Addiction
by ZareEraz
Summary: Fem!Watanuki! Watanuki has been able to see spirits for as long as she could remember and one day she meets a mysterious woman who says she can grant the girl's wish to be free of them, but at a price. The seer is then forced to work in the witch's shop as payment and also team up with a guy she hates and a black fur ball she wants to cook. But it's all just inevitability...
1. Prolouge: The Inevitable

A/N: ZareEraz here! As per request of suntan 140, I am embarking on a wondrous project of epic proportions! What I mean to say is that I will be rewriting the xxxHolic series much like I did with my previous fanfiction "High School Never Ends" in the Tiger &amp; Bunny fandom. (You should check that one out too if you like T &amp; B!) In this fic I am rehashing the series with Watanuki as a girl (I warned you!) and adding my own little fluff and interpretations of situations in a (hopefully) funny and enjoyable way. Let me know if you like! :3 (P.S. I really wish they had three or four tabs on the Genre section of the summary because this is really a supernatural-friendly-romantic-comedy fic.)

_There are many unusual things in this world. Every day, events occur that cannot be explained, bizarre phenomena that often go unnoticed because people close their eyes to what they don't understand. But the truth of the matter is that there are many unusual things in this world. And people…people are the most mysterious of them all… _

Prologue: The Inevitable

Watanuki's day was just as normal as it could be: completely horrible. She was walking in one of the many shopping districts of Tokyo after school when it happened. She'd been half eavesdropping on two girl's conversation about some guy named Peter when she felt it creeping up on her and shivered as its presence got closer and closer. "Go away now! Leave me alone, will ya?" she huffed, refusing to look back and make it reality. If she didn't look, it may or may not be real, just a feeling, but if she looked it would be real. The girl started sweating, walking faster, and her skirt flying behind her. It was still there. She walked even faster. She felt it still. She was running now. It was still there. She ran faster. Faceless people passed by her, some taking note of her hurried gait, some completely ignoring her and other taking enough interest to stop and watch her nearly run by. It was still following her. Watanuki panicked.

"I said, 'Leave me alone!' Dammit!" The raven felt it grab her head via her short pony tail and latch on. She shivered and looked back. It was very, very real. The spirit only she could see was a massive, purple mass floating behind her, yellow eyes and various mouths gaping at her. She nearly screamed, the daily terror still horrifying (and annoying) as it was when she realized that she could see spirits. Watanuki sprinted faster, not caring who saw her now, not caring that she was getting weird looks. All she wanted was the disgusting spirit to let go of her _head_!

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" She hissed, flying past stores and shoppers in her rush to avoid the spirit. "Almost there! Almost there!" She chanted (not really knowing where "there" really was because the spirit literally followed her everywhere. She burst out of the back allies of the shopping district and onto one of the main roads where swarms of purple spirits prepared to assault her. "What am I? The freaking PIED PIPER?!" She screamed, completely ignoring all the looks she was getting. Now the first spirit had its oozing hands wrapped around her torso.

"I was just going for a little afternoon walk, minding my own business-Hey! Watch your hands!" Watanuki spat at the spirit dragging her back. One of its hands had gone a little to far up and grabbed her boob, the thing's "head" still gnawing at her head. "I could do without the company, thanks!" A hand came up and smack the struggling girl and she hissed while shoving it off her face. Then another hand pinched and pull her cheek until she karate chopped it and then the entire spirit heaved itself up and tried to tackle her. "Oh no you don't! That's hurts!" The raven tried to hold the spirit off of her, but its sheer weight crashed down on her legs and she was pinned.

"AHHH! Get off!" She half whined-half demanded, pushed against the troublesome spirit. Watanuki knew she looked ridiculous to everyone else because they couldn't see what she could. To them, she just looked like a crazy girl rolling around in the middle of the street wailing her head off. They couldn't even fathom that one of the spirits they were taught to fear as children (and now didn't believe in as adults) was right in front of them holding down a skinny chick. "Get off! Just get off of me!" Watanuki wailed again, waving her free hand as if to ward off the spirit. Her hand hit a fence and then the strangest thing happened: the spirit evaporated, still leaving the girl in the middle of the street but minus one spirit. Watanuki paused for a second, looking behind her in the sudden quiet before standing up and brushing off her skirt and gray school jacket. She looked behind her but the spirit was really gone. The raven glanced at her hand and flexed it, wondering what was different about her hand that it could've warded off the spirit. Watanuki didn't think that her hand was any different and looked around her.

She was standing in front of a strange mansion; one that looked like several house styes had been mushed together. Their architecture seemed to mainly stem from Japanese culture with a sloping roof and wrap around porch, but there was a tower, a second story balcony mostly related to western houses and a curved porch roof and to top it all off there were crescent moons on each roof peak and over the porch. Looking from the other side of the fence, Watanuki thought that this odd little house didn't belong in Tokyo – it was the sort of house you'd find in the country, either haunted or inhabited by strange, old witches. Watanuki walked toward the moon topped fence's opening and looked in the courtyard. The cherry trees were blossoming, their pink buds fluttering slightly in the breeze. She glanced at the red door to the mansion, the slanted handles seeming to pull her in, like they wanted her to open them. _Well, this place is weird, _she thought, nearly turning away when something even weirder started to happen.

Watanuki gasped, her shoulders shaking, her legs beginning to move on their own. Her feet yanked her inside the fence by force, dragging her body along with them. The seer panicked, trying to stop her feet, trying to pull away from the red door. She grunted with effort, leaning towards the fence even harder as her feet started pulling her further in.

"Heeeeyyy!" She wailed, pulling further away and then running in place as she tried to escape what her body was doing to her. "Wah!" She yelped as a sudden yank jerked her back several feet. She ran faster to get away, tightening her grip on her school bag to anchor herself, but she was thwarted when the red doors suddenly swung open, a slight squeak coming from the hinges. The girl snapped around so fast her skirt got caught in the breeze and nearly turned inside out. Standing in the doorway were two of the strangest little girls she'd ever seen.

They were about the same height and one had long, curly blue hair in twin tails that generously fell pooled on the floor and was dressed in a red, black and white sort of devil outfit (complete with wings on her hips) and the other had short pink hair and looked like a white, poofy angel (also with wings). They both looked at Watanuki with blank expressions, the one's blue eyes and the other's pink eyes staring right through the raven. All three girls stared at each other for a moment, the silence heavy and awkward before the odd girls moved in perfect sync, their inner hands coming up and then falling down to gesture inside.

"Would you like to come in now?" Their bright voices asked, smiles on their lips. Watanuki gasped suddenly remembering where she was.

"No! Well, I-that's-uh-" And now she couldn't speak. _Great. Those two just kind of creep me out. _

"A customer for the mistress!" The blue girl said, hiding her smooth voice behind her hand and looking at the other girl slyly.

"Yes! It's a customer for the mistress!" The pink girl's voice was much lighter and happier and she smiled behind her own hand. They both giggled and ran out to Watanuki grapping onto her arms and pulling.

"No – Really! It's like I said – " Watanuki tried to get out as she was pulled inside the mansion, the two girls still giggling. The raven was forced into the gray-stoned entryway, her shoes flying off her feet on their own accord and her school bag dropping behind her.

"My shoes! Wait my shoes!" She exclaimed, wide-eyed behind her glasses. The girls just kept laughing. "Why are my legs moving on their own!?" It's like they really were possessed, each sock-clad foot taking steps Watanuki was not telling them to take.

"_Because this is inevitable", _a seductive voice echoed around the hall.

The two girls led Watanuki to a beautiful set of screen doors, exquisitely decorated with purple butterflies and smoke patterns. The girls let go of the raven's arms, the three of them standing in front of the doors for a moment. _Who's behind these doors? Who was that speaking to me? Why am I even here?!_All these questions floated around Watanuki's head.

"_You came here to inquire about something," _the seductive voice said again. Watanuki shivered and stood still as the two girls went up to the doors in tandem and smiling, slid the doors open. The girl gasped. The panels moved back to reveal a smoked filled room, the clouds lazily drifting back and forth, slightly concealing the person behind them. She was sitting on the moon couch framed by red curtains at the back of the room, leaning over the left armrest from Watanuki's perspective, a tobacco pipe drawn to her mouth. She was beautiful in an unearthly way, her long black hair cascading down her back and shoulders, contrasting with the bright red kimono she was wearing. There was a huge yellow bow tied in the front of the kimono, the robe part falling to the floor to reveal long, smooth legs and an exotic anklet band. All Watanuki could do was stare. The pipe came down, smoke swirling out of the lady's mouth as she shifted on the couch.

"Inevitable?" Watanuki asked, the wording striking a cord in her soul. Cranberry eyes looked up at her, fathomless, unattainable in their study of the girl. Something was happening here, Watanuki could feel it. A change in the air, a slight shift. The girl's entrance, her look, their meeting, the forming bond…it was all meant to happen and was incomprehensible in that moment.

Incomprehensible…but always inevitable.

To be continued...

A/N: And there's the prologue! I'd really love to get some feedback on this *wink, wink* so let me know if you enjoyed this little taste. I'll be sure to update soon! :3


	2. The Job

A/N: ZareEraz here! Here's the next chapter and I'm sorry for taking two weeks to get it out! I hope you enjoy this as much as I did writing it! Don't forget to RxR! :3

Chapter One: The Job

_Because this is inevitable. _

"Inevitable?" Watanuki asked, watching the beautiful woman puff smoke into the air. Then she really thought about how she actually got into this shop, the illogical occurrences not making any sense. But she tried to riddle it out anyway. "This isn't inevitable. I shouldn't be here. I just happened to be running along by your place when I tripped, so I put my hand up against your fence and then something weird happened to me." The whole time she was talking, the raven was miming her story, pretending to trip and put her hands against a wall, tipping her head sideways as she continued. The lady on the couch went on smoking. "And then I said to myself: 'Where in the world am I?' And all of a sudden my legs started moving on their own and I couldn't do anything to control them." This bout of miming had her dancing from one leg to another and then stopping to wiggle her arms around like she was being pulled. To anyone else, she must've looked ridicilious, but at the moment Watanuki didn't really care. All logic had been thrown out the window the second she walked into the strange house.

"I realize this might sound a little bit strange," She finished up, putting one hand behind her head, playing with her short pony tail. "But it's true." The woman on the couch just smiled, her eyes holding a mysterious glint.

"The fence is a barrier of sorts," was all she said, a smile still gracing her lips. Watanuki expected her to make fun of her weird antics and strange miming, but the woman didn't seem to find it weird or funny. It was weird.

"Well, anyway…I think I'll be going now. Sorry to disturb you." Watanuki gave a little bow, discreetly pulling her skirt down (it had folded over itself in the course of being dragged into the mansion) and then turned to go.

"May I see the object in your pocket?" The woman asked, her voice getting louder as Watanuki took a few steps out the door. The raven looked back, startled and curious. _How did she know I had something in my pocket? Is she a psychic? _

"Quickly please." The lady fell back into her couch and held out her hand, her long fingers gracefully waiting. Watanuki paused for a second, considering just bolting for the door before things got even weirder, but she was curious. She just hoped her curiosity didn't kill her. The girl patted her skirt to find her pocket and then fished out what was inside it as she walked back to the woman and deposited it in her hand. It was a bronze pocket watch with the image of two birds flying around each other. Watanuki unwound the chain and let it dangle out of the woman's hand. She stared at it for a moment.

"And your name?" She asked.

"Huh?" Watanuki asked, surprised that she didn't say something more extraordinary.

"I asked you for your name." Her voice shifted just the tiniest bit, going from completely seductive and mysterious to slightly impatient and peeved. _I'd better introduce myself fast! _

"Kimihiro Watanuki."

"Is it true that you were born on April First, Watanuki?"

"Hey!" The raven's arms shot up into the air along with one of her feet, her voice rising to what some people called her "annoying, high pitched, wail." "What the-?! How could you know that!?" Her foot came down as the girl stared down the strange woman. She was looking at the watch, opening the timepiece and studying the watch face.

"Watanuki!~ Watanuki!~ Born on April First!~" The two weird, little girls were doing a little dance while they sang, the arms pumping into the air and then each of them clapping the other's inside hand (for they stood side by side) and then ran around each other giggling.

"So that is your birthday?" The kimono lady asked, looking up at the girl. Watanuki blushed suddenly and glanced away.

"That is when I was born." She softly replied over the two girl's singing, "Watanuki!~ Watanuki!~ Born on April First!~"

"What a foolish girl! I can't believe you actually told a complete stranger your real name and birthday!" The woman's voice became mocking as she snapped the watch closed, an amused smile on her face.

"Hey!" Watanuki stomped her foot, "You're the one who guessed it! I told you nothing!"

"By telling an enemy your name you are giving them an opportunity to capture your soul," The woman went on, packing tobacco into her pipe. _Where is she going with this? _Watanuki wondered, because this tangent seemed really odd to her. "And then if they learn the date of your birth, they can find a way to own the paths of your past and your future." She lit a match and held it to her pipe, the small flame igniting the hair-like tobacco. Watanuki raised her eyebrow, skeptical of this whole conversation.

"Are you an enemy?" She asked doubtfully. The blue and pink haired girls rushed to their "mistress" and cuddled in close to her.

"Do you want to know my name?" _Okay, that didn't answer my question. _(A number of Watanuki's questions went unanswered.)

"No thanks. I'm good." The girl waved her left hand in front of her nose to emphasize her denial.

"Yuko Ichihara." The woman replied.

"And she tells me anyway." Watanuki looked behind her as if to speak to someone.

"Naturally its and alias." Yuko turned behind her as if to speak to someone now, holding her hand up to her cheek. Watanuki's outraged face crept up behind her, all sharp teeth and cross veins.

"SO WHY TELL ME AT ALL?!" She shouted, pissed off at Yuko.

"And these girls are Maru and Moro." Yuko pointed to the devil girl first and then the angel girl. "Of course, their full names are Marudashi and Morodashi. Cute names, huh?" Yuko asked, her face lighting up and held up her hands. Watanuki lost it again.

"WHY SHOULD I CARE?!" She yelled again, her sharp teeth coming out again. Maru and Moro just laughed at her.

"Cute names!~ Cute names!~" The twins sang, clapping each other's hands again. Yuko laughed along with them.

"Al-right! I think I've had enough of this!" Watanuki grumped. She swung her arm back to the laughing trio, trying to be polite as she said goodbye. "It was very nice to meet all of you-"

"You're leaving?" Maru asked, leaning into Moro with her hands pressed to her cheeks.

"You're leaving?" Moro copied her twin, the girl's face sad.

"Yeah." The seer stated curtly. Then she heard a swish and a click from behind her, the sliding moon doors closing all by themselves as she looked behind her. "Huh?" The twins quieted, the atmosphere in the room becoming heavy and silent. Watanuki suppressed the urge to shiver when she turned around, and Yuko spoke again.

"I told you: this is inevitable." The seductive tone was back as she looked at the girl levelly. "This little meeting? It had to happen." There was a pregnant pause as Watanuki looked back at her, trying to keep her hands from shaking. "And it was always going to happen this way." Maru and Moro giggled, running to grab something. "I can see that you do not understand." Maru and Moro placed a basin at the foot of the couch and Yuko knelt over it. She was holding some sort of disc in her hand, and placed it on top of the water so it floated, making sure not to get her kimono sleeves or her huge yellow bow wet. Watanuki heard a ringing sound that resonated with her bones, crawling into her ear and echoing in her head. The ripple in the basin seemed to bubble with the ringing, getting hazier and hazier with each passing second. Yuko stared at the disc for a moment, the red eye in the middle and weird symbols etched into the surface all staring back at her.

"Kimihiro Watanuki," she dragged out saying the girl's name, like she was trying to follow and incantation or something, her voice echoing throughout the room. Then the disc started to spin without the help of any outside force and all Watanuki could do was watch. "From the day you were born, you have always been different from those around you. And for as long as you can remember, this difference has always followed you." It suddenly became smoky in the room, Yuko's hair floating and dancing to the sound of her voice. Watanuki felt her heart speed up, and if she hadn't already had been dragged in here by her own feet and have doors shut for no reason at all, she would've fainted. "It is born into your family…and it comes from a world that is very unlike this one." Yuko looked up from the basin and stared straight at the girl, a shiver passing up the raven's spine. She swallowed loudly, trying to hold the woman's eye. _Where is she going with this? Its like she knows…she knows something about me that I don't want anyone to know about… _

"Your secret is…" _Here it comes, _"You can see spirits." _Crap. She does know. _Watanuki leaned forward, shocked that this woman she knew nothing about, had guessed her greatest secret. It was a relief that someone finally knew…but at the same time…it was the most horrifying thing ever. "This is because of the blood that is flowing through your veins. It is that blood, Watanuki, that pulls the spirits to you." The disc was spinning even faster now, creating a whirlpool in the basin that was hypnotic as Maru and Moro gazed into it. Watanuki was too busy looking at Yuko to pay attention.

"But why?" She breathed, half asking about the spirits and half asking how Yuko _knew_.

"The answer is in your blood Watanuki."

"It lives in my blood?" Watanuki asked. Yuko's floating hair was making her nauseous, the black weaving and dipping waves were hypnotic in their own way, the way that made Watanuki want to thow up.

"Do you understand now?" Yuko's creepy voice echoed, her cranberry staring deep into the seer. "There is no such thing as coincidence." Yuko's hair stopped floating in that moment and the echo in her voice disappeared. "And now of course, I'll keeping your watch." She held it up in one hand.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Watanuki freaked out, karate chopping the air and nearly hitting her head on her knee. "WHY SHOULD I LET YOU KEEP MY WATCH!?" She made a grab for her watch, but it disappeared into Yuko's sleeve and back out into her other hand before she could get it.

"Why, as payment naturally." The witch said as if it was perfectly normal, pouting at Watanuki's behavior. She deposited the watching in a mirrored box and snapped the flowered lid shut. "When a service is rendered, compensation is needed to complete the transaction. The payment must be in equal value to the service. It can neither be too much nor too little. There can be no deficiently nor excess. Only perfect balance, and equivalence." She explained calmly. "Or harm will be done." Yuko's hand came up gracefully, pulling Watanuki's chin close to her own, almost like they were going to kiss. It was freaky, being this close to another woman and Watanuki hardly dared breath for fear of accidently hitting the woman's lips on accident. She was ready to give up her first kiss.

"Harm to whom?" The girl breathed softly.

"Harm throughout the universe, and harm to the soul." _Okay, that was cryptic. _"They both require a balance." Yuko's hand stroked Watanuki's cheek, almost pulling her closer. She smelled like vanilla and old things, like books that had that comforting scent when you opened them for the first time in years, with just a hint of freshness on her skin to hypnotize the senses. It was almost intoxicating enough to make Watanuki forget that the witch had swindled her out of her watch, but not quite. The girl blinked.

"But I didn't ask anything of you and I didn't get anything from you!" Watanuki flailed and jumped around, completely pissed off by this point.

"Girls, please put this away." Yuko ignored the seer as she growled at her and handed Maru and Moro the box with Watanuki's watch in it.

"Okay!" The twins answered in unison, standing up and whisking away the box.

"Hey! Hey! Give that back!" Watanuki ran two steps after the fleeing girls and tripped, landing right on her face. Yuko laughed.

"I can see you underwear, Watanuki! Lace looks good on you!" The witch called, giggling. Watanuki's hands flew up to her skit and pulled it down, a fierce blush blooming on her cheeks. The girl just wanted to melt into the floor by this point and had almost succeeded when she wailed, "What kind of place is this!?

"It's my shop." Yuko answered, lounging on her couch again as Watanuki snarled.

"You're shop!?"

"The merchandise here is…wishes." Watanuki got up to kneel on the floor and raise and eyebrow at that last comment. _Wishes? Nothing here makes any sort of sense!_

"It's a wish granting shop!" Maru and Moro appeared by the door again, one on each side. "This shop can grant almost anything!" They replied together, dancing and then clapping their hands together.

"If our mistress approves!" Maru sang as Moro giggled.

"And I take my payment." Yuko added, taking a drag from her pipe. She blew smoke into Watanuki's face on the other side of the room. The girl didn't even know how she did that! She only made a face and waved the smoke away disgustedly. Yuko sidled up to the seer, getting right in her face. "It's an exchange, you see. The payment must be equal to the wish." Yuko's hand was on the raven's chin again and she didn't like it. "I might, for example…take someone's soul."

"You would take someone's _soul_!?" Watanuki wailed, her eyes going wide and trying to take a step away. She tripped and fell on her butt only to crawl away backwards as fast as she could. That is, until the wall got in her way and she crashed into it. Yuko, Maru and Moro burst into laughter as Watanuki rubbed her sore head.

"How funny!" The witch laughed. "You look like a drunken crab!" Watanuki kept shivering, gaping at the woman.

"You're gonna kill me!"

"Oh, please, would you just calm down?" Yuko asked, twirling that damn pipe in her hand.  
"Death is a very heavy thing, I have no interest in killing anyone."

"It's heavy?" Watanuki was confused again.

"Yes, there's no point really." Yuko walked back to her couch and flopped down.

"In what?" Watanuki watched her carefully, ready to escape at the first chance.

"In ending someone's life. Death. It can be overwhelming and it weighs on the universe. So those who know don't kill."

"But you take souls!?" Watanuki pointed out, her voice climbing several octaves at once.

"The word 'soul' can also refer to something very precious to a person. In exchange for granting a wish I expect something equal in value in return, but there's no need to kill anyone." Yuko's hand came up as if to pat Watanuki's head from across the room. "You feel better now?~" She mocked.

"I have no wishes that need granting!" The seer retorted, going back to the issue of her watch.

"But aren't you thinking that is would be nice not the see them? You're thinking how great it would be if they weren't drawn to you." Watanuki sat up, the witch's uncanny ability to practically know what she was thinking unfathomable. It took her a second to respond, slapping her hand on the ground.

"No, I'm not." She spat. Yuko's snake smile got bigger.

"I can make them leave." She held out a carrot to the girl, the idea tantalizing. Watanuki hardly dared hope for such a chance. It would be great if she could just live like a normal person, without the spirits and finally not be labeled the crazy girl any more. Her eyes narrowed.

"You can do that?" She asked. Moro walked over and knelt down by her all lady-like as the seer watched her.

"When the mistress says something can be done…" She started. Maru sat down on Watauki's other side, leaning back onto the wall, drawing the raven's attention.

"Then it most certainly can." She finished.

"Is that really true?" Watanuki looked to Yuko again.

"Do you enjoy their constant presence?" She answered a question with a question.

"Well, no." The seer looked at her hand so she didn't have to look at Yuko's deep eyes anymore. "Lately I've been thinking more and more of how nice it would be if I could just get rid of them all." She sighed. "It would be just so good to be free." _But it's only a dream. _

"So that is your wish then?" Yuko asked. The girl and the woman looked at each other for a quiet moment, one waiting for an answer and one unwilling to give it, the act of asking it probably requiring compensation. Watanuki hadn't know Yuko very long, but she had a feeling that the witch was like that. But she needed to answer.

"Yes." She whispered, half hoping Yuko hadn't heard. The shop owner smiled.

"And now I know your true wish. So shall I grant it?" The air got heavy again as silence ensued. Watanuki's eyes got wide as the possibilities of having a spirit free life opened up in front of her. "First, the payment." Yuko demanded, holding out her hand. Watanuki snapped again.

"What do you want?! My soul?!" The raven shouted. Yuko's open hand changed to one of pointing.

"I did tell you this was a shop." She reminded.

"It's a shop!~ It's a shop!~" Maru and Moro danced on by.

"And what about my watch?" Watanuki asked sweetly, holding out her own hand. Yuko looked at her skeptically, smacking the girl's hand down.

"That was that and this is this." She replied pompously.

"That was that and this is this!~" The twins repeated.

"No!" Watanuki sang back, bowing her head and holding up both her hands.

"I don't except cancellations." Yuko informed the girl.

"It didn't want to be here in the first place!" Watanuki's ears started smoking in her anger, a cross vein popping out of her head.

"Why don't you work for me?" Yuko asked. Watanuki got smacked by conversation whip-lash and her anger evaporated in her shock.

"Huh?" She asked, a dumb look gracing her face.

"You can work for me here in my shop. And when you've done sufficient labor to counterbalance your debt to me…I'll grant your wish." Yuko answered, her eyes once again alluring.

"Part-timer!" Maru and Moro popped in between the pair out of nowhere and began doing Ring-Around-the-Rosies around Watanuki's legs.

"We'll start by celebrating your employment!~"

"Wait just a second; I haven't even agreed to work for you." Watanuki stated flatly. Maru and Moro were still singing, "Part-timer!~ Part-timer!~" in the back ground.

"Of course, you'll need to get some things for the party! We'll need plenty of snacks and a bunch of sake and maybe some colored streamers and confetti!" Yuko threw her hands up in the air happily. "Oh!" She then clapped her hand together as if she just remembered something. "And could you get something from my storehouse for me?"

"You're storehouse?" Watanuki asked, peeved this time. "And what do you want me to get from there? If it's my party then why and I doing all the work!?" She shout clenching her fists.

Somehow the raven ended up in Yuko's storehouse (which was actually connected to the shop), the quietness unnerving in the dim lights. She was surrounded by so many strange objects and artifacts and Watanuki didn't even know where to start looking. She almost just started dawdling, the array of all the things crammed in the building interesting enough to keep her occupied for a long time, but she didn't want to get mocked by Yuko again when she didn't come back because there was sure to be a, "Did you get lost in there?" remark headed her way if she did. Watanuki sighed, already tired of dealing with the semi-bipolar woman.

"She said she wanted me to come here to pick up a guest. Hello?" Watanuki called louder, looking around the shelves. "But who could she be expecting me to find down here?" The girl stopped looking where she was going by this point and tripped, her long arm reaching out to grab onto a shelf, but it came off and she crashed to the floor anyway, scattering a few objects on the floor. Then something soft hit her head and bounced onto the floor in front of her face with a popping/suction sound. _Well, at least it was soft. _Watanuki look over her glasses to see what it was. It was a black, fat, round, rabbit looking thing with really long ears (one with a blue and silver earring), slit eyes and a blue jewel in the middle of its forehead. "Is that a toy?"

"Haha!" The thing opened its black eyes hugely and its tiny arms went into the air before settling back into its closed-eyes cuddly-thing position, its ears falling back down with it.

"Did it just laugh?" Watanuki asked, not quite sure how to handle this thing.

"It seems so!" The black ball replied, tipping to one side with a smug smile.

"This is the party guest?" Watanuki asked, peeved that she had been sent into the creepy storehouse to get a stuffed animal.

"Oh yay! A party!" The ear were back up and the thing jumped into the air happily.

"It's a talking toy-thing." The girl summed up as said talking toy-thing spun. Watanuki didn't care at this point and picked up the rabbit-toy and went back to Yuko. She deposited the furry creature into Yuko's waiting hands.

"Hello, Mokona." Yuko greeted. Mokona yawned hugely, its mouth taking up nearly its whole body.

"I slept well." For some reason, the thing decided it was good to crack its ears one by one, just like someone would crack their neck. _Can you even crack ears? _Watanuki wondered.

"What were you sleeping in there for anyways?" The seer asked, confused still.

"Uh, for about three years I guess?" The ear were up again as Mokona answered.

"That's not what I meant-"

"Mokona, we're getting ready to throw a big party tonight to welcome the new help. How 'bout it? Think you're going to be up for it? " Yuko asked it, smiling.

"Whoohoo!" Mokona jumped into the air repeatedly. "Party! Party! Party!"

"This is your idea of a party guest?" Watanuki pointed at the fur ball. "What the heck is a Mokona?"

"Mokona is Mokona. You count them one Mokona, two Mokona and then you stop, there's only two." Yuko's hand fell on Mokona's head, stopping the jumping.

"That's supposed to be and answer?!"

"And now could the two of you go shopping for us? I'll pay you back later, okay?" Mokona left Yuko's hands and hopped itself all the way over to Watanuki's shoulder.

"You want me to go shopping?"

"Good luck, part-timer." The witch smiled.

"Part-Time!~" The twins cheered.

"Okay fine! Whatever!" Watanuki conceded. She was just so tired of all this chaos. The girl stomped out of the room and down the hallway, putting on her shoes and grabbing the shopping back that Yuko held out of her. The seer scowled and huffed at her as she then stomped out of the shop and to the fence.

"Take care now!" Yuko called from the porch.

"Take care now!" The twins echoed. Watanuki turned the corner and left the shop, it's odd owner and two girls waving with handkerchiefs behind.

The chaos of the shop left behind, Watanuki felt a little drained, the strange afternoon starting to wear on her. The walk back to the shopping district really helped her calm down, that is, if Mokona would quit poking her and calling for snacks. After several "shut ups" and two fur balls to the face, they came to and understanding and the fat rabbit stayed in the bag when they were around other people. Soon enough, Watanuki was walking amongst other shoppers perfectly at home, but always wary of passing spirits.

"Oh look in her bag! It's so cute!" A group of passing girls pointed at Mokona (who thankfully pretended to be a toy).

"You're right! But isn't it kind of stupid to carry that sort of thing around with you? I mean, come on!" Another of the girls jabbed.

"Just perfect! Everyone's staring and I look stupid! Why do I have to do the shopping anyway? Normally I wouldn't mind but it's different when someone's practically shoving you out the door against your will!" Watanuki's temper flared, her footsteps getting faster with her irritation as she grumbled. "I didn't agree to be her slave!"

"Going to fast!" Mokona called, rolling head over heels in the shopping bag. "Slow down!"

"Oh, just quit your whining!" The raven hissed. _Great, now I'm taking to the stuffed animal in public! _"Why do I have to carry around this stuffed animal? It's bad enough that I already look like a weirdo, but why can't I just have some peace and quiet for just one minute?"

"Can you please pull this thing over?" Mokona asked from behind its hand, its huge eyes open again and filled with tears. It swallowed loudly, the immediate threat of throwing up clear.

"How can you get car sick in a shopping bag?!" The rabbit groaned. Watanuki pulled the bag apart and stuck her head in. "Don't puke in there!" She leapt to attention, holding the bag secure so Mokona wouldn't roll around anymore and ran to the nearest vacant place, which happened to be a park. Mokona then proceeded to throw up in the bushes and then asked for a drink afterwards. Watanuki and to hold the thing up to a water fountain as it washed its mouth out and when it was done it started bugging her for food again. She screamed at it a couple times and then dashed off to the market before she buried it in the sandbox. When they finally made it to the store, all Watanuki could do was sigh, "Let's just get this over with" and then started shopping. Mokona was very vocal about what it wanted to eat and the raven was surprised that no one noticed a talking stuffed animal rubbing itself on meal.

"Yum, yum! Yum, yum!" Mokona blushed as it sat in the cart with the groceries.

"This stuff if really expensive," Watanuki noticed, holding up a vegetable and then putting it back.

"But who cares? It's yummy! Heh, heh! Buy this!" Mokona climbed up her arm, across her small chest and down her other arm to grab what the girl had just put back and throw it into the basket before hopping back in.

"Okay then, if that's how you feel I'll buy it. But you'd better eat every bite, do you understand?" Mokona wasn't listening to her and Watanuki was just about to smack it when a shiver went up her spine. She stood up straight, stock still, eyes wide as she sensed a familiar and disquieting presence. She turned around and saw a purple, worm-like spirit floating just above the isles, waiting for her, its massive yellow and white eye opening and staring her down. Watanuki shivered again and walked away, the spirit following her. She checked out of the store and started walking to Yuko's shop, her gait turning into a trot as the spirit tailed her.

"I thought she said she was going to grant my wish but they're following me just like always!" She whispered, shrugging the shopping bag onto her shoulder better. Mokona was just laughing in the bag, holding onto the food. "This is no time for you to be laughing!" The girl hissed, leaning over into the bag, do you hear me?"

"Of course, it would be better if I couldn't see them." Watanuki stopped to listen to a group of girls in school uniforms different from her own. There were four of them in grey and white sailor uniforms, just walking along casually listening to the one girl who'd spoken. "It's a heavy burden. "

"What's it like?" One girl asked.

"Yeah, and how long have to been able to see them?" Another asked. "And why?" Watanuki followed behind them, listening in on the conversation.

"I don't really know." The first girl answered. "It's been like this for as long as I can remember. You think I'm a freak now, don't you?"

"No, of course not! We would never think that!"

"Yeah! It must be really cool. I don't have any talents like that."

"It's not cool." The first girl corrected. "Every day is painful." She was the brunette in the middle of the group, the one with her hair down.

"How so?"

"It's like having a terrible headache you can never get rid of. And that's not all: I can hear their voices."

"Voices?!" The three other girls exclaimed at the same time.

"They're never very clear, but I think they're screaming. Like they're in constant agony…or something else."

"Maybe they're angry." One of the girls suggested.

"Of course they are." The brunette girl went on. "They're still attached to this world but they've had to leave everyone they love behind."

"Aren't you ever scared? I know I'd be terrified!"

"Yes, but I have no choice. I'm the only one who can be there for them now." She paused. "They say that knowing me is like seeing a single light in otherwise complete darkness."

"Are there any here now?" The brunette stopped walking and was silent for a moment, the group stopping with her. Watanuki stopped as well, wanting to here the girl's answer.

"Yes." The other three girls gasped and stepped away. The one girl moaned and grabbed her head, running to an empty part of the sidewalk by a building and squatting down.

"Are you okay?" One of the three other girls ran over to her, placing a hand on her back.

"What happened?" Another asked, following the first girl over.

"Can we do something to help?" The last one joined the group, all three girls huddling around their friend.

"I'm fine, just give me a moment and I'm sure it will pass." The girl's voice was strained, gruff and pained. She had her hand pressed to her face, like she was pressuring a headache.

"Is it because of something we said?" One of the girls asked, trying to get answers. Watanuki's eye was draw to something on the girl's neck, like there was a ring around it that no one else could see. She squinted, her face scrunching up in concentration. Whatever was plaguing this girl the seer couldn't quite understand nor explain, she just had a feeling that this girl was like herself.

"I'm sorry if we made them hurt you!"

"Excuse me," Watanuki took a step closer as she spoke up. The three normal girls looked at her strangely and then the other girl turned around, gasping. "You're going to be alright," Watanuki said in a clam, soothing voice, clenching the handle of her bag tighter. "There aren't any spirits possessing you or following you or anything." She got a hard stare back in answer, but the raven just smiled back. "Trust me you're perfectly healthy, nothing's coming after you, certainly not spirit. So there's nothing to worry abou-"

"Shut up!" The brunette snapped at Watanuki. "How could you what any of this is like? Every day is incredible painful! I have to listen to moaning and screaming every second on my life!" _Sounds like what I have to listen too._ "My body feels heavy my head throbs from the noise and I don't even know who I am some of the time because they're possessing me!" _They don't possess me, but at least they don't fall on you in public and make you look like a freak and sneak into your house to trash it and then leave only to come back in the morning to cling to you on your way to school so everyone else you know starts avoiding you until no one talks to you or wants to be your friend. _ "I've had to bear this all my life and sometimes I don't think I can take it anymore!" _Welcome to the club! _The girl stopped shouting and cringed, falling to her hands and knees to hold her head.

"Saiyaka!" The girl with the pony tail and glasses comforted her.

"Oh no!" The girl with black hair looked concerned too. All three girls turned hostile towards Watanuki, their eyes hard as they glared at her.

"Just leave her alone!" Pony Tail girl hissed.

"She's had to suffer so much! Are you too blind to notice that this girl is special?" The second one accused. _I noticed at about the same to you did, and what's funny is that I know that you don't know I'm similar to your friend there. _

"It's okay, I'm alright." The brunette said, her voice nearly a whisper.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, they've given me some peace for the moment. It's very difficult but sometimes I'm able to persuade them to let me rest for a while." The girl stood up, grabbing her bag and turned to face Watanuki. "I don't know who you are but it doesn't matter. A normal person like you could never understand my pain." _You're wrong on that account, I'm just as not-normal as you, _Watanuki wanted to voice this, but with the way the brunette girl was acting, it wouldn't have helped. "You don't know what it means to suffer like this." _Strike two. _"So please leave me along now." She finished with a hard voice.

Watanuki looked back at the other girl, staying silent. The brunette blinked and looked at the raven again.

"You should be glad, that you can't see them." _Strike three. _Watanuki knew what the girl was seeing, she'd felt the worm spirit twist around her during their conversation, having caught up with the seer. Even now she could feel its cold, purple body brushing against her own, its head nearly resting on her shoulder. But she didn't say anything, the air thick with tension.

"Time for some food!" Mokona popped out of the shopping bag and ran toward a food stand, the group of girls catching sight of it and gasping.

"A rat!" The tension bubble broke and Watanuki ran after the fur ball.

"Mokona!" Watanuki ran around the girls, her shoulder bumping the other seer. The raven stopped after two steps, feeling a change in the air. Mokona didn't matter in that moment. The three normal girls didn't matter. The people milling around the group of girls didn't matter. The air turned cold to Watanuki and she felt _it. _The worm spirit took notice of the brunette, its head swiveling to look at her. It moved. Watanuki nearly tipped over as it slid off her body and twisted around the other girl, its body enclosing her. Its head wrapped around the girl's neck, its huge red eye opening as it stared her in the face, unwrapping and spinning Watanuki around to face the girl.

"No…not her!" Watanuki breathed. The spirit obviously didn't listen to her and pushed its eye and then the rest of its body down the brunette's, encasing her in its noxious presence, possessing her. Once the possession was complete, the spirit re-materialized, wrapping around her body like a snake. Watanuki watched open-mouthed as the girl grew pale as a sheet and called to her friends, her voice even weaker that it was before.

"Let's go." She sighed and the girls walked past Watanuki without a second thought as the seer stared after them in shock.

"Mokona is hungry! Mokona is hungry! It's time to eat now!~ Eat! Eat!" The fur ball went unnoticed for some reason as it jumped up and down and the food stand. Watanuki stood in place, her shock turning into remorse as the girls left. Her heart ached as the spirit who was supposed to be bugging her turned its head and smiled with its huge eye, laughing gleefully. Watanuki's face fell, guilt clawing at her.

"But why now?" She asked. _They've never left me before, why? Why?_

"Time to eat! Time to eat!" Mokona called to the raven dancing around. "Fill my belly! Fill my belly! Time to eat! It's time to _eat_!" The fur ball shouted. Watanuki was still in a stupor, she didn't even remember buying food for the fur ball, nor did she recall walking back to Yuko's shop, still lost in her head and guilt over the other seer girl. Bird's called outside the mansion but the raven took no notice, just walked inside and took of her shoes before heading towards Yuko, her steps heavy.

"How was the shopping?" The shop owner asked, her tone sly and innocent at the same time, like she knew something but was trying to hide it.

"Mokona is home! Yay!" The fur ball hopped out of the bag and tottered over to the witch, looking at the puzzle she was piecing together. Watanuki stared at Yuko hard, trying to reason with herself that Yuko knew something, that she had made the whole incident happen. The woman took notice.

"What's the matter?" She asked, "Aren't you happy it's gone?" She looked away. _She knew!_

"You knew that would happen." Watanuki stated bluntly, her eyes still hard.

"What would?" Yuko not-feigned innocence. That ticked the seer off.

"You knew this whole time!" Watanuki's quite anger flared.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Yuko replied.

"You knew that that thing that was stuck to me would transfer to someone else!" Watanuki clenched her fists, barely reigning in her temper.

"Watanuki I had nothing to do with it." Silence ensued as the girl mulled over that statement. "Why are you so upset about it?" Yuko didn't seem to care much either way, calmly smoothing her kimono and

"I feel bad about it." _That's an understatement. _

"And why is that?"

"'Why is that?'" She snapped. "Look! I've been thinking a lot about how nice it would be to get rid of these things that are hounding me. But I never wanted to do that if it meant pushing them onto somebody else!" Watanuki shook her head, her pony tail smacking her neck as she tried to explain her frustration.

"You do realize that that spirit wasn't specifically yours." Yuko still wasn't looking her in the eye. "Spirits are always changing, always drifting to new places." Watanuki gasped softly, the thought never occurring to her because all the spirits she'd even encountered had just glommed onto her and nobody else. "When a person wishes deeply for something, that wish has the power to call that thing into being." Yuko placed a piece into the puzzle on the floor. "And that's what happened to the girl." She finally looked up, her long hair falling around her. The revelation slammed into Watanuki, falling to her knees as guilt, frustration and shock roiled in her again.

"She wanted it that way?" The seer whispered. "But why? There isn't a single good thing about seeing them." She nearly tipped over, placing her hand on the ground to steady herself. Yuko stood up slowly and walked over to the raven, kneeling down next to her as she rearranged her robes.

"People are capable of wishing for anything they think they want." The witch placed her hand on Watanuki's cheek, as if to comfort her. The girl didn't move. "It could be happiness…or unhappiness." The image of the other seer popped into her head.

_"__You should just be glad that you can't see them." _

"We are all free with wish without limitation." Yuko went on, "We can even wish for things that will harm us. You will soon learn that there are very few boundaries in my life of work." Yuko stopped talking. Maru and Moro just watched from the corner. Watanuki was lost in thought, thinking that she couldn't participate in a job that could potentionally harm people, even if they wished for it. _I don't want a repeat of today, I can't work for someone like Yuko if she's just going to let things like that happen because someone wants it too. I can't do that. _Watanuki looked away and stood up, walking out of the room and leaving her shopping, multiple puzzles (physical and not), two small girls, a fur ball and a seemingly unfeeling witch behind. She was leaving it all behind. She didn't plan on coming back.

"You're going home are you?" The seer passed through the doors and into the hallway when Yuko spoke. "Kimihiro Watanuki." At the sound of her name, the girl stopped in the dim hallway. "Just remember: our meeting was destined."

"Destined?" The girl repeated softly, not understanding completely what Yuko was saying.

"Already the ties are forming. And we cannot stop them. It does not matter how brief the encounter is. When two people meet they affect each other. The meeting will change their lives in some way and ties will form between them." _Witchy nonsense. _Watanuki stayed silent and started walking again. "There is meaning to every even that happens in our lives however small it may seem." Yuko kept calling after her. Watanuki had reached the end of the hall and picked up her school bag which was resting by the wall. "And so there was meaning in our meeting today. Try to remember that!"

Watanuki sat down to put on her shoes without another word from Yuko, tying the laces tightly before standing up to brush down her skirt. Her shoes clicked on the stone entry way, the shop's door squeaked softly as she opened it, and clicked shut with finality as she took one last glance inside before closing the door.

"Mistress, she left." Maru and Moro wrapped themselves around the witch, sadly stating the obvious. Yuko smiled.

"But she'll be back. The ties that bind us simply won't disappear." In that moment, Yuko knew that Watanuki was one of those people who would wish for unhappiness for herself if it meant the benefit of someone else. "What a troublesome girl." She sighed before hugging the twins.

Watanuki walked home quietly, the sun just barely hiding behind the horizon, the brilliant orange rays seeping into dark purples and blues before fading to black. She made it to her apartment without any problems – supernatural in nature or not – and silently ate dinner, did her homework and went to bed, her thoughts still lingering on her odd day and her meeting with Yuko. She also thought about the other seer girl and how her unhappiness was Watanuki's own unhappiness in a way and those are the thoughts which she fell asleep to, her dreams fitful and dark. _She forgot to pay me for the shopping…_

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Hardly without her noticing, the next day had Watanuki staring at Yuko's shop, tucked between two high office buildings. The cheery trees were still swaying in the breeze happily, birds still chirping like her whole world hadn't just been tipped upside down and shaken. Watanuki was staring at the fence, trying to muster up the courage to go inside.

"I'm only going back to get the money she owes me for the shopping!" She justified, as if her being here was out of her control and not just and excursion for compensation. "And then I am really leaving! Okay!" Watanuki nodded resolutely and stomped down the street and into the courtyard, her skirt flying behind her before opening the shop door and clicking it shut.

"Watanuki!~ You're back!" Yuko called happily, spiriting into the entryway in one of her elaborate kimonos (this time in purple and pink with blossoms sewn into the cloth).

"I'm only here for the money you owe me!" The girl stated resolutely, holding out her hand for the money she was owed.

"Come now! Don't be that way!" Yuko walked up to the girl and grabbed her chin, getting almost close enough to kiss her again.

"Why don't you stay a little longer than that? We still have that food you bought…wouldn't you like something to eat?" Watanuki glanced sideways, the offer tempting because she was a little snackish. _No! You're just here for the money! _She told herself. _But she'd offering a snack! What's the harm in staying a little longer? _She argued with herself. _No! You need to get out of here before she pulls some more witchy crap on you! But it's food! _

"Fine. I'll stay for a little snack and then I need to go!" Watanuki relented. Yuko smiled, her cranberry eyes holding devious ideas. Watanuki shivered.

"Perfect!" The witch clapped her hands together and smiled brightly.

"Perfect!~ Perfect!~" Maru and Moro skipped in and danced around the seer. A few minutes later Watanuki was wondering how the hell she got into a cooking smock with her hair tied back making the snack she had been offered.

"Damn that Yuko!" She screamed, flipping the meat in the pan and checking the sauce on the stove. "How did I get here?!" She heard Yuko laughing in the other room with the twins as Mokona bounced around the kitchen singing about food. Watanuki cringed inwardly and sighed, flipping the meat again. _What have I gotten myself into?!_

To be continued...

A/N: There you go! I hope to keep updating on a fairly regular schedule and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! See you next time! :3


	3. The Lies and the Game

A/N: ZareEraz here! Chapter Two is here! Hooray! And you'll all be happy because Doumeki's in this one! Enjoy and don't forget to comment!

Chapter Two: The Lies and The Game

Watanuki was seriously not having a good day. First, she'd been called over you Yuko's shop very early in the morning, got ready in a whirl of clothes and school supplies and rushed over there expecting some sort of disaster. Second, she got to the shop and was furious to find that Yuko was fine, the shop was fine the twins and the fur ball were find and no one was dead. But someone was going to be. Instead, Yuko wanted a three course meal for breakfast. Watanuki yelled at her for a good ten minutes before Maru and Moro dragged her by the arm pits into the kitchen and threw her smock at her so she could cook.

"If I'd known she was going to be this demanding I would have never taken this job in the first place." The seer muttered to herself as she tended to the stovetop and Yuko's sake at the same time.

"Hey, Watanuki!" Mokona jumped up behind her. The raven ignored the fur ball and kept cooking. She could feel Maru and Moro's eyes on her and ignored them too. "Hello, Watanuki!"

"Can't you see that I'm in the middle of cooking!" The girl sighed, chopping vegetables.

"Watanuki! Listen!" The fur ball shouted. The girl turned around with a fierce glare.

"Alright! What do you want?!" She snapped.

"The pot's boiling over!" Mokona yelled.

"Boiling over!" Maru repeated.

"Boiling over!" Moro agreed.

"WAH!" Watanuki whipped around to the stove top and panicked, grabbing the hot lid of the pot and taking it off. Hot steam floated into her face, blinding the girl as she flailed, dropping the pot lid on her foot. Watanuki hissed in pain and jumped around, slipping in her socks and falling to the ground.

"That's what I was trying to tell you!" Mokona chortled gleefully.

"Trying to tell you!~" Maru and Moro repeated, each holding one hand out for the Mokona to sit on.

"If you guys saw it you could've just turned down the heat, you know!" Watanuki yelled at the trio, brandishing her ladle at them. "UG! Nothing could possibly be worth all the trouble I'm going through!" She sighed dejectedly.

"Is it ready yet?" Yuko's sultry voice said from behind Watanuki.

"No, no one will leave me alone so I can get my work done." Watanuki said, irritated that with all the room in the shop, everyone just happened to congregate right were she was.

"I can wait on the food but in the meantime, I'll need another drink." Watanuki turned to look at her employer. Yuko was poised in the door way, her leg propped up on the wall high enough to nearly show her underwear. She was wearing a sexy maroon dress today with slits up both sides that ran to her hip bones with a white cloth drape hanging from her elbows and deep brown thigh high stockings. She was holding the sake bottle with her finger and thumb and dangling it back and forth, telling Watanuki to fill it up again.

"Another drink!~" Maru shouted, her fist pumping into the air.

"Another drink!~" Moro copied her twin with a huge smile on her face.

"You already drank it all?!" Watanuki asked, flabbergasted.

"Be a good girl and fill it back up." Yuko leaned over into Watanuki's personal bubble again, her lips inches away from the girl's. She wiggled the bottle back and forth before dropping it into Watanuki waiting hand. The seer sighed; already tired of her boss and it was only seven in the morning!

"Yeah, yeah. I'll take care of it now."

"Ooo! Is this it? It looks delicious!" Yuko asked, dipping her finger into one of Watanuki's dishes and tasting it.

"Don't touch that! No snacking until the meal is finished!" Watnauki ordered, filling up the sake bottle.

"Oh come on. It's just a little taste." Yuko replied. Watanuki turned around with her hands on her hips.

"I don't care if it's just a 'little,' if you eat now it'll ruin your appitie and all my effort will be wasted!" Yuko as giving the girl an amused smile for her rant, but it dropped off her face as she looked towards the door. Maru and Moro's faces lost their smiles as well, turning to where their mistress was looking. "You don't seem to realized how much trouble I'm going through to make this! Do people have no respect for the work of a chef anymore? I mean, really! A-" Watanuki noticed that Yuko wasn't paying attention to her anymore and stopped talking.

"Well…it seems we have a customer." Yuko stated, her voice interested and ominous at the same time. She slunk out of the room, pulling on a pair of gloves to match her stockings.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" She was a young woman, probably in her twenties, wearing a white skirt, a purple striped top and a white jacket with blue shoes as she stood in the entryway of the shop. She had short, curly, brown hair and pale bluish-greenish eyes that seemed to Watanuki like they were blank most of the time. "I'm sorry. I was walking by and before I knew what was happening I ended up in here, but I don't know how."

"This girl didn't mean to come in here either." Watanuki whispered to herself as she, Maru and Moro slid open the door just a crack to spy. She's already made sure everything in the kitchen was fine and then ditched her smock, putting on her gray school jacket on in its place. "Is this some sort of a trap?"

"That's alright. Welcome to my shop." Yuko greeted the girl as she led her into a sparsely decorated room with a small, circular table and two chairs. The two women sat down to talk, Yuko's dress and drape falling to the floor in a puddle of fabric, and the trio outside the room hunkered down to listen in. "We specialize in the granting of wishes here."

"Granting wishes?" The customer asked.

"That's right. You wouldn't be here if there wasn't something you were wishing for." Yuko replied. "And I have the ability to grant your wish. It's a very simple process. But of course, there is always the matter of payment."

"Now that's a sneaky sales pitch." Watanuki commented softly, kneeling on the ground. She didn't even notice that her skirt had flipped up and if anyone happened to walk behind her they would totally be able to see her white, lacy panties.

"It's sneaky!~" Maru repeated softly, but gleefully.

"So sneaky!~" Moro said softly as well.

"You three!" Yuko shouted as she pointed at the crack in the door with a vengeance. "I hope you know I can hear you!" Maru and Moro giggled as the three eavesdroppers clapped their hands over their mouths.

"Now then," Yuko said, standing up. "Why don't you tell me your wish?" She held her hand out to the women.

"I don't know. I can't think of anything in particular that I want to wish for at the moment." There was a pause as the woman thought. "But now that I think about it, there is this: there's something wrong with my little finger." The woman held up her pinky finger to Yuko. "It feels really heavy and I have a hard time moving it. I went to the doctor but he said there's nothing really wrong with it."

"Do you have any vices or bad habits that you could tell me about?"

"Well…no bad habits that I can think of…" The woman trailed off. "Certainly nothing serious enough to affect my health." There was a long paused before Yuko spoke again.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am." Watanuki watched Yuko stare at the woman's pinky finger, and then looked at it herself. There was a ringing in the seer's ears and then she saw it.

"What is that stuff?" Watanuki saw a ring of black smoke twisting around the woman's finger and then drifting into the air. "Is it smoke?" She blinked and looked at the woman to see if she saw the smoke as well, but the customer wasn't paying and attention to her finger so Watanuki shrugged and passed it off as only something people like her could see.

"Here. I will give you this ring. I would advise you to wear it on your pinky." Yuko held up a small ring with a golden band and a red stone in the center.

"Will putting this on get rid of the problem I was telling you about?" The woman stood up and took the ring in her hands.

"It's for the best that you assume that it will." Yuko replied ominously. "Do with it what you like. But I must warn you that the problem may still worsen. The ring is a bandage, not a cure." Maru and Moro giggled by Watanuki.

"I wonder what's wrong with it?" Watanuki asked to no one in particular, holding up her own little finger. Moro walked over smiling and held up her own pinky to the girl. The customer left after that, taking the ring with her and Yuko finally decided that she wanted to eat breakfast so Watanuki had to scramble to the kitchen to gather everything up, set the table and serve her employer before dashing to school where she was almost late. The first period classes of the day went normal, but Watanuki couldn't help but be distracted, thinking about the customer and how much she despised Yuko for getting her up so early in the morning just to cook. She grumbled to herself during math lessons and could hardly pay attention in English class from her annoyance at the witch made her take a scolding from her teacher and a laugh from her classmates when she got caught writing death notes in her notebook.

The more Watanuki thought about it, the more pissed off she became about how her morning turned out. And so, when gym class rolled around, she was ready to kick some butt at soccer just to let off some steam. She was a speed demon in grey and white sweatpants and on the field, it didn't matter who was up against her for the ball they would be out maneuvered by the normally spastic girl who was so consumed by her annoyance that she was unstoppable. She dodged her classmates, stole the ball out from right under their feet and kicked harder than she ever had, pretending that the ball was Yuko's head. The only thing that stood in her way was the goalie. He was a tall boy, solidly built with short brown hair and deep bronze eyes. He never batted and eyelash at anything (as Watanuki was finding out) and blocked some of her murderous during the game. She was irked that her de-stressification was being foiled by an athletic, stuck up bastard who had the nerve to get in her way when she had the ball in her possession! But mostly the goalie (whom Watanuki was sure was in her homeroom class and had been in previous classes with her – but what was his name?) ignored her and just went on guarding the opposing team's goal with a dead pan on his face. By the end of gym, Watanuki was tired and not pissed at Yuko anymore but was mildly irritated by the goalie (she remembered now – his name was Doumeki!).

The girl walked over to the outside sinks after the game to wash her face off, taking off her glasses before splashing cool water onto her cheeks. She brought up her hand to the barrier between sinks to fish around for her towel, but couldn't find it within a few testing pats. Then she felt fabric by her fingers and grabbed a hold of her towel to rub her face dry. When the raven took the towel away from her face, she was greeted by a pleasant surprise.

"Oh, hi Wari!" The girl said, suddenly blushing at her crush. Wari Kunogi was a cute boy in her class with dark, curly hair that twisted around his face and ears so handsomely and he had the dreamiest blue-green eyes. Watanuki smiled and then internally squealed in joy as the boy smiled back and started a conversation with her.

"Hey, how are you doing? Have a good work out?" It was generic small talk but it meant the world to Watanuki. She smiled wider.

"Y-yeah! Sure did!" _Stupid, Watanuki! Don't sound so stiff! Act natural! _The girl coached herself, mentally smacking herself for sounding stupid. "What are you doing here?"

"Same as you, I guess. We just got out of gym class." Wari was still smiling. _He's so cute! _Watanuki internally did a dance of admiration as she continued to talk to her crush.

"Oh, that's right!" Watanuki slipped on her glasses again, her blush getting a shade deeper as she realized that they always had gym classes together. "You group was doing mat exercises today, right?" They were now standing in front of each other as Watanuki walked a few steps closer. _I'm talking to Wari!~ He's so cool!_

"Yep, and your group was playing soccer. The gym doors were open so I was watching." _He was watching?! I hope he didn't see me pick a wedgie out that time when I was staked out in the corner! But who cares? He was watching!~ _"I saw you score that winning goal there in the end! That was impressive!" Watanuki nearly fainted from the praise, putting up her hand to her forehead dramatically. Her blush went even deeper. "But I have to say that the goalie on the other side did a pretty good job too." Watanuki's face when blue, her smiled dropping into a look of disgust. "I think his name's Doumeki, right?" Watanuki's teeth chattered in nervousness. _This is not where I want the conversation to go! I don't want to talk about him, I want you to talk about me, Wari! _Watanuki slumped near the sinks, her good mood evaporating at the mention of another guy. "You know, but not actually being on the soccer team, it's amazing how good you guys really are."

"Not true! I mean – Doumeki isn't really all that great!" Watanuki waved her hand at Wari's comment. "It was a total fluke that he blocked that one shot I made! Seriously! A one in a million, miracle save! Pure dumb luck!" She held up her hands to emphasis her point, a cross vein popping out of her head.

"In that case, I must be the luckiest guy on earth, huh?" A shiver ran up Watanuki's spine as a deep voice sounded behind her. When she realized who it was her cross vein got bigger and she sulked in a slumped posture. "You do realize that I blocked six of your shots, don't you?" Doumeki was standing just a little ways off, nonchalantly eavesdropping into her and Wari's conversation. It pissed Watanuki off that he had the audacity to prove her wrong while she was trying to build herself up in front of the boy she liked! Didn't that guy have any idea what she was trying to do?!

"YEAH WELL – I was just kicking them easy so your team wouldn't look so bad!" Watanuki yelled at him, turning around to point and accusing finger at the annoying boy.

"Yeah, that was it." Doumeki said, his face unemotional, but his eyes held the slightest shine of sarcasm.

"Yeah, it sure was!" Watanuki went on the defensive, teeth pointed in anger. "You and your team should be thanking me right now! I did you a favor!"

"Uh huh." Doumeki replied before starting to walk away. That pissed of Watanuki even more.

"Don't you run away when I'm talking to you!"

"I'm not running away. I'm walking calm away from a crazy person." Doumeki said, turning to look at the furious girl from over his shoulder.

"Come back here! I'm not through with yo-" Watanuki stared to yell when she was cut off.

"Well, I really should go." Wari said cheerfully. Watanuki anger disappeared and tears nearly started running down her cheeks as the cute boy started to leave.

"Go? But why?!" She asked incredulously.

"I'm going to be late for my French Club meeting." _He's learning a foreign language?! That's so cool!~ _"Are you in any after school clubs?"

"Yeah." Watanuki replied. "Well, it's not a club really, it's more like a part-time job I have."

"Oh, really? Where is it?" They were talking about Watanuki's horrid job but the girl really didn't mind. As long as Wari was talking to her, it didn't matter what they talked about (just as long a Doumeki was _not_ a part of it). The seer crossed her arms, trying to think of a way to describe her wacky job and boss without scaring her crush.

"Well…it's this strange little shop. I don't know how you could explain it." The girl thought for a moment, her face contorting into a weird expression. "But I guess you could call it a consultation agency." An image of Yuko's mysterious/I'm-going-to-do-horrible-things-to-you face popped into her mind. She shivered. The girl laughed the feeling off.

"A consultation agency, huh? Well, that sounds like a lot of fun."

"It isn't fun at all." Watanuki stated bluntly. "In fact, it's the worst job ever." Maru and Moro's and Mokona's faces popped up this time and Watanuki nervously laughed as a feeling of dread passed over her just thinking about the work in store for her when she got to the shop.

"Alright! Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Watanuki!" Wari waved as he walked away.

"Oh…yeah!" Watanuki waved back.

"See ya! Good luck with your job!" Watanuki's eyes went wide and then shined in delight as she blushed at the sentiment.

"Thanks! Goodbye!" Watanuki skipped all the way to Yuko's shop she was in that good of a mood after talking to Wari.

"Wari has to be the cutest boy in the whole school!" Watanuki cheered as she went to her job, laughing and swinging her school bag with joy. "It's so cool that he talked to me! What's more, he even watched me score a goal!~ Hehehe! This is a good day for you, Watanuki! You're a lucky girl! Hehe!" The girl sang as she skipped into the shop, kicking off her shoes and going to Yuko's room. She slid the door open and everything went south from there.

"There's something wrong with your face." Yuko said, hand on her jaw as she watched Watanuki enter what she dubbed as the "receiving room." Watanuki froze in place, her good mood popping like a balloon. Her face dropped as she dropped her school bag on the floor, slumping against the door. It fell over as if to point out the girl's disbelief at what the witch just said.

"Excuse me?" Watanuki asked, shocked. "What did you say?"

"You couldn't hear me?" Yuko asked, lounging on her couch with her damn tea cup. Now she was dressed in a shoulder less, deep turquoise/teal dress (once again with a slit up to her hip) with loose sleeves and white fringe along the bottom of the skirt and across her boobs (and a necklace to match). "I believe I said that there's something wrong with your face."

"What? Mine?"

"Yes, of course I mean yours!" Yuko smiled impishly. "Who else would I mean?" Watanuki took a few steps into the room before collapsing to her hands and knees. She didn't even care if her skirt flew up and anyone saw her underwear.

"A perfectly good day and you had to go and ruin it." The girl said dejectedly, all hope in the world lost to her overly dramatic being.

"I'm sorry, Watanuki, but it's true." Suddenly the terrible trio was hugging the seer's arms (sitting on her shoulder in Mokona's case) and consoling her.

"Sorry, it's true!" Moro said.

"Sorry, it's true!" Maru repeated.

"HA! There's something wrong with your face!" Mokona jeered. Watanuki wanted to strangle the little pork bun! "Hehe!"

"Leave me alone! I can't help what my face looks like! It was all determined by genes before I was born!" She retorted crossly.

"No, you misunderstood." Yuko held up her tea cup. "I wasn't talking about your facial features, I meant your countenance on this particular day." Watanuki's crossness vanished and was replaced by confusion.

"Say what?" Yuko took a sip of tea before responding.

"I'm talking about the reading of faces. It's a different sort of fortune telling than I usually do, but it can be quite effective. According to your face, something went wrong."

"Well, maybe your reading was wrong because I got to talk to Wari today and there's nothing better than that!" Watanuki stood up and brushed down her skirt, a blush forming on her cheeks again.

"Who's Wari?" Yuko asked, amused.

"Wari? He's only the cutest boy in school!" Watanuki praised her crush. "He has the most fun hair and the most amazing eyes I've ever seen before in my entire life!" Watanuki hugged herself in excitement. Then Yuko stood up and got really close in what Watanuki had come to name the "nearly kiss" pose were the witch got right in her face close enough to kiss her, the woman's hand on her chin.

"Well, speaking with someone different can change your luck." Yuko replied. "Did you have any other conversations?" She flicked Watanuki's face as she pulled away. Watanuki crossed her arms, her fangirl persona falling away.

"Well, yes now that you mention it. I also talked to the guy named Doumeki today. So maybe if there's something wrong with my face, it's from talking to that jerk." The seer stewed.

"Ah, Doumeki." Yuko replied. "I think I've heard that name before. Perhaps you and this boy were meant to form and acquaintance." Watanuki instantly protested, her hands flying around her face as she vented her anger.

"I don't think so! If I have my way I won't ever have to see again!" She shouted. "He's rude and arrogant and a bad soccer player and he butted right into my conversation with Wari!"

"Alright, calm down." Yuko coaxed. "Most of the time no one is as good or as bad as we think they are. Watanuki blinked at her.

"What do you know?" The raven snapped. "You've never even met him." But Yuko was looking away now and so were the terrible trio. Watanuki had been ignored again.

"What? You're done arguing? You mean I win?" It was incredible! Yuko almost always won their arguments with her twisted logic and snide inserts! Yuko smiled her I-just-put-a-rat-in-your-room smile.

"Looks like our little friend came back to us." She walked out of the room and everyone followed. The customer from earlier was back in the shop, this time wearing a long coat over her clothes, but she didn't look much different. "Well, hello again." Yuko greeted, putting her hand on the small panel by the genkan (1). Yuko led the woman inside to the same room with the same table where they sat down to talk.

"I-I know it sounds strange, but I didn't mean to come back."

"Oh, don't worry. I was expecting to see you again." Yuko replied. "May I ask if you're still wearing the ring?" Watanuki, Maru and Moro were once again eavesdropping, the door panel to the room cracked just enough so the three of them could see.

"Yes." The woman held up her hand to show the ring on the little finger.

"There's no smoke coming from her hand this time." Watanuki observed, seeing the finger as everyone else saw it. "It must've worked."

"But your bad habit hasn't stopped, has it?" Yuko went on, her cranberry eyes narrowed. The woman gasped. "Please answer my questions. What is your age?" The woman smiled, probably happy that the topic was more safe now.

"I just turned twenty one." Black smoke instantly sprouted from her little finger, this time in bigger clouds that spiraled up to the ceiling. Watanuki was the one who gasped this time.

"Are you employed?"

"Yes."

"Doing what?"

"Um, advertising. I'm a manager." The smoke got thicker, the clouds darker with each word out of the customer's mouth.

"Yes. And your bad habits?" Yuko asked calmly. The woman didn't reply, her eyes just got wider. Yuko's hand came up, pointing at the woman's face before moving in to touch her lips. "There's one right here." Yuko said. Her hand moved down to the customer's chest, lightly touching the area. "And here."

"I'm sorry, I don't understand." _What I don't understand is why she's not freaking out that another woman is touching her boobs! _Watanuki grumbled in her head. "Is there something I'm doing wrong?" _Yes, you're not freaking out over another woman touching your boobs. I know I'd be. In fact, I do freak out when she touches my boobs. _

"Has anything changed since the last time you came to me?" Yuko pulled back her I-know-something-you-don't smile on her face.

"Well, actually yes." The customer said, holding up her arm. "It's not just my little finger anymore. Now I'm having a hard time moving my whole arm."

"You need to figure out what's wrong very soon." Yuko pointed to the ring on the woman's pinky finger. "Or you may lose the use of your hand altogether.

"The ring's been cracked," Watanuki said, noticing that the ring was dull and dirty. "It used to be a lot nicer than that."

"Alright." The customer said. "But I can't really think of any bad habits. If I do will I be able to move my arm normally again?"

"Once you realize it, you'll be good as new."

"Okay, thanks."

"Do you care for a drink?" Yuko asked, holding up her hand to where Watanuki was crouched behind the door.

"Watanuki, will you please fix some tea?" Yuko asked.

"Huh?" Watanuki perked up at her name. The customer stood before she could move.

"I appreciate the offer but I can't. I've already made plans to meet with someone after I leave from here." The woman's hand was by her collar bone, the same one that was now spewing out clouds of smoke again.

"Of course you have plans." The rat smile was back on Yuko's face. "Who are you going to visit?"

"It's my boyfriend, we've been dating for almost two years now. We were both in the same creative writing class my freshman year. He graduated a year ago and now he's got this great new job, working at a consulting firm." The smoke coming from the woman's finger was dark now and thicker, the clouds filling up the space around her. And the room was starting to smell like a dumpster full of fish and baby poop had thrown up all over the place.

"What's that smell?!" Watanuki clapped her hand over her mouth and nose in disgust.

"Well, I'd love to have some tea with you the next time I come." Yuko stood up with the customer.

"Of course, that will be just fine. Maru, Moro, please show her out." The door outside slid all the way open as the twins smiled.

"As you wish, mistress." They said in perfect unison. "Follow us this way please." They gestured toward the hall and the woman walked out with the girls.

"I have a feeling this will be the last time we see that unfortunate girl." Yuko stated, all her smiled gone.

"I don't understand." Watanuki said, standing up and walking over to her boss while brushing down her upstart skirt. "Wasn't that ring supposed to help her?"

"By itself it can't." Yuko sat down again as she talked.

"It looked like there was some sort of smoke coming out of her hand whenever she answered one of your questions."

"Yes. That black smoke is the reason that that girl has been having a arm time moving her arm. I believe that she is approaching her limit." Yuko held up her little finger. "Her little finger is just the first thing that will fail her." Watanuki was worried about the customer, concerned for her safely now that she'd spoken to Yuko about what she'd seen. Watanuki made up her mind.

"Do you think it would be alright if I left for a little while?"

"To go after her?" Watanuki didn't respond. "You plan to tell her everything I said about her, aren't you?" No reply. "It won't work the way you want it to, Watanuki. She has to discover her flaw for herself or she cannot be healed."

"Well I'm still going." Watanuki turned to leave.

"Alright, do whatever you like. Its fine with me if you don't finish today's hours. Just remember: whatever you don't get finished today you're going to have to take care of tomorrow." Watanuki grabbed her shoes as Yuko called out after her. Watanuki walked out of the shop and looked around for the woman. She was walking down the street and had just turned the corner. The girl ran after the woman , back into one of the busy business and shopping districts in the city.

"She didn't leave the shop all that long ago so how could she have gotten this far already?" Watanuki asked herself when she lost sight of the woman. She skidded to a halt when she saw the woman come out of a business, sighing with relief.

"So that's five turkey sandwhiches and one tuna?" The customer asked another woman who came out of the same building behind her.

"Thanks for picking those up for us!"

"Sure. I'll be back soon!" Another woman's head popped out.

"Soda too, please!" She called after the customer.

"Got it!"

"That's weird." Watanuki said. "Didn't she tell us she was going to meet up with her boyfriend?"

"Can you believe she's going to be turning twenty seven this year?" The first, brunette woman asked the other blonde one.

"Twenty seven? Are you sure? She looks like she's so young!" The blonde woman replied, looking after the customer woman. Watanuki grimaced. _I'm getting really good at this eavesdropping thing, aren't I? _

"And she uses it to her advantage." The brunette replied enviously. "Whenever we go to parties she always lies about her age."

"Does she do it to try to impress men? I thought she already had a boyfriend." The blonde asked.

"She doesn't." The short-haired brunette put her hand on her hip. "She's been single for a while now.

"But she was talking about having lunch with him just last week."

"Oh, yeah? What she'd say about him?"

"A lot. Apparently he's been working overseas with some architectural company."

"So it's changed again." The brunette shrugged. "She's lying. I don't think she's had a boyfriend the entire time she's worked here."

"Why do you think that?"

"Two months ago, she said her boyfriend was a lawyer and before that he was a curator of a museum!" The brunette scoffed. "It changes all the time. I think she's just trying to impress everyone. I doubt she means any harm by it but the lies just seem to slip out naturally."

"Hm. I guess it's just a bad habit."

"Habit?" Watanuki repeated. A light clicked on in her brain. "That's it!" The seer ran after the woman, breath huffing from her mouth until she caught up. The woman was talking to a girl in a green jacket, some sort of worker with a clipboard.

"Excuse me? Could you answer some questions for a survey?" The worker asked the woman.

"A survey? Alright." She replied cheerfully.

"First: how old are you?"

"I'm twenty four." _She's lying again!_ As the woman spoke, a dark pillar of smoke formed from her lies and surrounded both of them, but not being able to see any of it, both women were oblivious to the stink and the smoke.

"How would you describe your job?"

"I work in fashion."

"Are you married?"

"Yes, for two years." Watanuki clapped her hand over her nose as the black cloud got bigger, the smell of rotten fish and sewage hitting her like a ton of bricks.

"The same smoke as before! It must come out whenever she's lying!" The girl coughed.

"Thanks very much for your time!" The survey woman bowed in thanks and the customer woman walked away smiling. Watanuki followed and barely caught her next words.

"I think I'm getting that strange feeling again. My neck is so stiff it's hard to move!" Her hand came up to rub her stiff neck as she continued to walk down the street. Watanuki trailed behind the woman for a couple more blocks, keeping an eye on her and the smoke that was clinging to her. They reached a big intersection and started crossing when the customer woman was stopped by another brunette woman in a teal business suit.

"Hey! It's been a while! How are you?" Apparently they knew each other. "I mean, how long has it been?"

"I don't know." The customer woman replied, shrugging.

"Well, too long! How is everything?"

"As good as ever, I suppose." The woman brought her hand up, the one with the ring.

"What a lovely ring! Is it from your boyfriend?"

"Uh huh!" More smoke spewed out of her little finger, completely obscuring her face from Watanuki's view.

"It's just beautiful! Is it an antique?"

"Yes, a family heirloom." _Quit lying!_

"But it isn't on your ring finger?" The friend asked pointedly.

"He's very particular. He's still looking around for the perfect engagement ring. He wants me to have the best!"

"So you are getting married then! How exciting! What sort of job does he have?"

"A doctor. He works in pediatrics."

"Oh that's great! You're going to marry a doctor?" The friend's eyes bugged out just a little as she smiled. "You have to be the luckiest girl in the world!"

"Well, we haven't set a date yet. He's ready but I'm just not sure. I think we should give it a bit more time, but he really is an amazing guy!" The smoke was dancing around her now, almost like a living thing and still more of it was coming from the woman's little finger.

"Oh, look at that!" The friend noticed the walk signal flashing, warning pedestrians that the light was going to change. "The light's changing! Well, it was really great catching up like this! I'll give you a call soon! We'll do lunch next time, 'kay?"

"Sure, see you later!" The women waved at each other before the friend walked off. By waving, it seemed that the customer woman noticed that the ring wasn't as pretty as it used to be. Watanuki could already see that but it was like she was noticing it for the first time. The woman swiveled her hand around to look at the jewelry. "What's happened to the ring? It looks dirtier than before. Maybe if I just polish it for a bit…"

_The ring is a bandage, not a cure. _Yuko's words popped into Watanuki's head, a warning that she'd given on the first visit. _If she takes that ring off…she's going to be in trouble!_

"No! Wait! You can't take off that ring!" Watanuki shouted, but it was already too late. The ring came off and the smoke was let free, billowing upward and out in a clogging mass of stink.

"Hey! Ah…what's happening?" The woman said, not moving and inch from where she was. "I can't move!" From beyond the smoke Watanuki could see the flickering of lights, it was a truck! The truck started honking and Watauki remembered that the light had changed and there weren't supposed to be any walkers in the street! She gasped and almost ran out to help the woman when the truck's wheels squealed in the effort to brake before hitting the woman and Watanuki cringed, shutting her eyes tight so she didn't have to see the impact. Everything went silent, the tinkling of the ring bouncing toward Watanuki the loudest sound she could hear. It rolled to a stop just shy of her foot and clanked until it too fell silent, replaced by the wailing of sirens.

Hours later, Watanuki walked back heavily to Yuko's shop, going in and finding Yuko on her couch, smoking that damn pipe. Watanuki pulled out a handkerchief and set it on the table, opening it up to display the dirty ring. Yuko looked at it a moment before addressing the girl.

"I thought I told you you didn't have to come back tonight and finish your work." She started. "Was it really necessary to accompany the girl to the hospital? Though, I can't say I'm surprised you did." Watanuki had gone to the hospital, accompanying the woman in the ambulance and then waited for her to be carefully deposited in her room to heal. And then she'd left, heading back to Yuko's tired and worn out.

"I don't really see how I had any choice." Watanuki yawned. "There wasn't anyone else around her who knew her and could look after her. She needed someone." Watanuki smiled, happy to tell Yuko the good news. "Fortunately, it looks like she's going to recover from all of this."

"Let's just hope she learned something from it." Yuko leaned back on her couch, crossed her bare leg over the one still in her dress and took a puff from her pipe.

"Yuko," Watanuki started, "If you knew this was going to happen, why didn't you tell her? She could've just stopped lying." Yuko sat up and reached out her hand to pick up the ring in her pointer finger and thumb. She stared at it hard.

"The lies that the girl was telling were for her own sake and no one else's. it wouldn't make a difference if I told her to stop, even if she knew the consequence." The ring disintegrated in the witch's fingertips and Yuko let the pieces drift to the tabletop. "She would still lie. She has to realize that it's her lies that are weighing her body down. That's the only way to stop her."

"So you really don't think she has a chance?" Watanuki asked, surprised at Yuko's speech.

"That's not what I'm saying at all. She has an infinite amount of chances."

"That's good, right?" Watanuki asked, hopeful that the customer's situation could change. Yuko gave her the look that said you-dummy-that's-not-the-point.

"I just want you to realize that you're not the one she needs help from right now." There was a pregnant pause as Watanuki tried to digest that bit of information. And in the minute or so it took for her to ponder that, Yuko had somehow silently switched from leaning and sitting on one side of the couch to doing the same on the other side, not a hair out of place. Watanuki shrugged it off like the rest of the strange things that went on in the shop.

"Yuko, may I ask you something?"

"Yes, what is it?"

"Did you know everything that was going to happen to her from the minute she walked in here?" Yuko took a drag from her pipe and blew out her smoke in delicate swirls. _How does she do that? _"Do you know what's going to happen to her now? Is it just this girl or can you tell anyone's future just by meeting them once? If that's true you already know what my future is going to be like." When she first started working for the shop owner, Watanuki had had a hard time stomaching all the fortune telling, mumbo jumbo but after a while she did see that Yuko had a gift and a talent for it, so now the questions she was asking didn't seem so ridiculous. Yuko leaned forward on one of her hands, the other down by her knees with the pipe as she sat.

"I have many guesses about your future but that doesn't mean I'm right."

"Why not?" Watanuki leaned closer, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"With the girl, I knew her habits and their consequences, that made her future very predictable for me. Your world is larger than hers – who knows what you might do with it? Any choice you make could change your future. In this world, there is only one possible past for all of us, but it contains an infinite number of futures."

"I'm sorry, but I can't really say that I understand where you're going with all of this." Watanuki admitted her brain block, confused and tired after her long day.

"That's okay, I didn't expect you to comprehend it all yet." Yuko have the girl a look she hadn't seen yet. "By the way, I'm hungry." Pause. "How about some diner? Sound good?" Yuko blushed in anticipation, a huge smile on her face. The three-sixty on the conversation threw Watanuki for a second, but then she lost it.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?! How can you possibly be hungry already?!" The girl waved a fist at her boss.

"Some dinner!~"

"Some dinner!~" Maru and Moro appeared next to Watanuki out of nowhere, dancing around as the girl clutched her head in annoyance.

"Not fair! Earlier you said I was done for the day! I'm being over worked!" Watanuki complained over the twins happy chanting.

"Earlier I was still full from breakfast, but now I have my appetite back." Yuko's not-so-serious face popped up. "So I think it's about time you stop all this silly whining and get to the kitchen like a good worker." Watanuki waved her right hand back and forth disdainfully.

"Even part-time workers like to be treated with some respect." Yuko gave her a sly look.

"I was going to order something easy, but since I respect you as a chef perhaps I won't." Watanuki's face twitched and then she growled at her employer.

"That's not fair! You can't change your mind!" She hissed through closed teeth. "Now just order something easy!" Yuko's pipe came up so she could have a smoke.

"We'll keep it light: tea over rice and sea bream, followed by toasted fish fin. I like mine extra crispy. Watanuki sighed and swung herself around to head to the kitchen. She got to work knowing that Yuko wasn't worth the trouble of arguing with now.

"I'm seriously underappreciated here! Does she know how hard it is to make this stuff?" Watanuki grumbled, warming some sake for dinner. Several minutes later, Mokona, Maru and Moro were distracting her with their antics and she set the fish fin on fire, ("It's on fire!~" Maur said happily and Moro repeated it again, even more happy) leading to hilarity as the raven tried to put it out with Mokona shouting, "Where'd you learn to dance like that?~" and laughing gleefully.

In the other room, Yuko listened to the chaos and crashing dishes in her kitchen in her kitchen and puffed her pipe solemnly. She looked up, as if talking to someone that was and wasn't in the room with her.

"It's so hard to find good help these days, I'm glad she came along. She works hard and she doesn't really complain all that much. Maru and Moro need someone to look after them and Mokona has found her to be a thoroughly amusing diversion." A particularly loud crash come from the kitchen along with a lot of yelling and cursing and giggling. "You'll be just fine. As long as you remember that his world is what you choose to make of it. You can have any future you want, Watanuki." Yuko smiled, and went back to puffing smoke swirls in the air.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"Are you sure…about this?" Watanuki asked timidly, batting her eyes innocently.

"I'm ready, Watanuki." Yuko's cranberry eyes opened up to look at the nervous girl. "Now, give it to me!"From all outside viewers, this exchange might border on the naughty, erotic side, but in all actually, the pair was playing baseball. Yuko's blue heeled boot swung out onto the ground and she pulled the bat behind her menacingly, waving it back and forth in anticipation. "Pitch, girl!"

"Pitch!" Mokona shouted, pulling down its catcher mask and standing behind Yuko.

"And don't let your skirt flip up! Someone might see your panties!~" Yuko teased.

"Leave my skirt out of this!" The raven yelled, bringing her leg up to pitch the ball, hand and glove wrapped tightly around the projectile she aimed to dig into Yuko's face. Now while this scene of two females and a rabbit might seem strange, it was even stranger in the fact that both women were wearing skirts while doing it – Watanuki in her school uniform and Yuko in a blue, long sleeved, mini dress with a scarf and thigh high boots. To them, it was perfectly normal (a fact that Watanuki would shiver at if she actually had time to realized just how many times she went along with Yuko's harebrained ideas, but right now she was supposed to be throwing a baseball). Watanuki's arms went behind her head and then she swung them around to throw the ball as hard as she could, zooming straight towards Yuko and the pork bun. Yuko's triumphant smile flashed across her face as the ball cracked against her bat and then soared into the air with her mighty swing.

"Gah!" Watanuki gasped, watching the ball disappear from sight.

"And it's outta there!" Mokona cheered, hopping into Yuko's shoulder as the witch brought up her hand to her forehead to watch her hit, the bat resting on her shoulder. A few seconds later there was a crash, the sound of breaking glass and several curse words floating in from the direction the ball went. Watanuki cringed, pitying whoever had to clean up that mess. Yuko just laughed along with Mokona.

"What broke?" The fur ball asked amusedly.

"My guess would be that it's somebody's window!" Yuko chortled.

"Uh oh!" Mokona hopped on top of the bat to get a better view. Watanuki turned around hollowly, her previous feeling of pity being directed at herself because with those two she knew what was going to happen.

"Good luck with that!~" Mokona and Yuko both said, waving the problem off on Watanuki.

"Wait!" She snapped. "So I'm the one who's supposed to clean that up?!" Watanuki was then shoved on her way and trudged across the park into the residential district and knocked on the door of the house with the broken window. She then spent the better part of thirty minutes to an hour cleaning up Yuko's mess while the guy in the house yelled at her and all the girl could do was apoloigize over and over again. By the time she'd made it back to where Yuko was in the park, the witch was hanging out on the swing set and doing the monkey bars just to pass the time.

"What a nice day." Yuko commented, sipping a cup of tea on the playground. The trio was camped out in a park, sitting on animal seats (Yuko was on the dog, Mokona on the duck), their baseball scores scratched into the sand. Watanuki hadn't scored a single point and Yuko was getting up into the fifties.

"Yeah, for you maybe!" Watanuki hissed, pouring her boss more tea when she held out her cup. "Don't you at least feel a little bit guilty? Come on! You broke someone's kitchen window! The ball landed on the table, there was food everywhere! I had to clean it all up and listen so some guy yell at me the whole tim-"

"Watanuki!" Yuko was saved from a longer rant by Wari's entrance into their conversation, the cute boy waving as he ran over.

"Oh, Wari!~" The seer waved back, a blush spreading over her cheeks. "Good to see you!"

"So sorry I'm late! Thanks so much for meeting me here!" Watanuki put her hand behind her head sheepishly.

"No, please, don't worry, really!" Watanuki ducked down and scooped Mokona off the duck and threw it elsewhere. "Here have a seat!" She said while the black fur ball whined through the air.

"Thanks, how nice of you." Wari took a seat and put his school bag on his knees. Watanuki turned to the bag she'd brought with her and started digging into it.

"Are you hungry? I think I might have some crackers in here." She said cheerfully, humming as she searched.

"So, you're Wari?" Yuko asked, fiddling with her red scarf and fixing the pink flower attacked to it at her neck. "About time. I've heard so many good things about you from our Watanuki."

"He-hey!" Watanuki whispered to her employer in a nervous-polite tone. "Are you trying to kill me? Please don't say anything else like that, okay!~" She was smiling, but obviously embarrassed.

"And you're Yuko, right?" Wari asked pleasantly. "I've heard about you too! Watanuki told me you're the owner of the shop she works at after school. Nice to meet you."

"Now that we know each other, tell me what it is you came to ask me about." Yuko got right down to business as she settled into her seat.

"Of course." Wari's adorable smile looked a little painful now, like she was troubled by something. "It's about a friend of mine from another school. There's this game her classmates started playing," Wari's smiled was now completely gone. "Angel. And ever since then, some strange things have started happening. I thought you would know something about it, Yuko."

"What is that? Angel?" Watanuki asked, looking from Wari, to her boss.

"Hm. It's a kind of fortune-telling game. A board that channels spirits to foretell the future." Just hearing the game made Watanuki shiver. Anything to do with spirits she stayed away from and even now (after working for Yuko in her strange little shop) she still couldn't understand why someone would willingly try to call spirits to them. "At least, that's what it's supposed to do, but it sounds as if something else is happening here."

"So I was right. Something's wrong." Wari's voice got all worried and he brought his hand up to his mouth, thinking and stressing at the same time. Yuko stood up and walked over to the boy.

"And you're looking for a way to help this friend of yours?"

"Yeah, I'd like too. I'm worried about her." Watanuki only had time for the fleeting thought of _I'd wish he'd worry about me like that! _Before Yuko roped him into the deal.

"Alright, your request is accepted. We'll help." There was a pause and even from behind, Watanuki was sure Yuko's cat-ate-the-canary grin was on her face. "Well, she will." Yuko jerked her thumb back at her little worker.

"Just me?! Are you crazy!" Watanuki ranted on, doing crazy arm motions and bitching while Yuko kept talking to herself. "Are you insane?! It's one thing to cook meals and throw a baseball but this is ridiculous! Not this!"

"Of course, I don't feel comfortable sending her out alone to do this. She'll need someone to go with her." Yuko tapped her lip with her pointer finger, thinking.

"How about me? I'll go." Wari volunteered. Yuko shook her head.

"She'll need someone else." And after that they left, the exchange pleasant and Watanuki fawning over Wari before being dragged away by Yuko. Then went back to the shop and Yuko decided she wanted to change for the third time that day and ordered Watanuki to prepare a snack. The girl sighed and grumbled, but did as she was told, donning her smock and tying her hair back with a handkerchief.

"Wari's handsome. I never expected you were such a charmer to boys, Watanuki." Yuko was changing behind a sliding screen, but that didn't stop her from seductively pulling off her scarf and letting it drift to the floor, her arm gracefully coming into view and then disappearing into a silhouette once again.

"I don't understand why I have to be the one to do this." The seer grumbled some more, pouring tea. She could hear the rustle of Yuko's kimono as the witch put it on, knowing that it was going to be a very flamboyant outfit just like always.

"Because," Yuko started. "Oh, Maru? Will you hand me that sash over there? And Moro? Please bring me that clip."

"'Kay!" Both girls ran in opposite directions, doing their mistress' bidding.

"You didn't answer: why do I have to do it?" Watanuki was pissed off at the prospect of doing more work for Yuko, even if it involved Wari.

"Because Watanuki, if I had to do I would have to ask for compensation from Wari." Watanuki clapped her fist into her other hand, realization dawning on her.

"But you can't!" An image of Yuko holding Wari's beautiful face popped into her mind, the prospects horrifying. "If that happens, Wari will be trapped in Yuko's web like I am!" Yuko's arm snaked out from behind the screen and dug the heel of her hand into the back of Watanuki's head.

"Ow!"

"It's not good to speak ill of your employer." The girl rubbed her aching head.

"But what am I supposed to do?" Watanuki asked. "If I run into something dangerous the only thing I'll be any good for is seeing it." She turned to glare holes in Yuko's screen.

"And that's why we're inviting somebody else along!~" Yuko replied teasingly, her bare leg coming out from behind the screen to wave at the raven.

"Does it really have to be that jerk Domeki?!" A cross vein popped out on Watanuki's forehead, her teeth sharp as she complained about her impending doom. "Why do you insist on torturing me?! I'm serious here! This is cruel and unusual punishment!" The girl grabbed her head in frustration, growling.

"But it would be so lonely by yourself!~" Yuko coaxed. "And anyway, just think about how grateful Wari will be when you and Doumeki help out his friend!"

"Thanks for running this by me first, Yuko!" Watanuki threw her arms down angrily.

"Wari was so happy when you agreed to help her!~" Watanuki stiffened, Wari's gorgeous, smiling face appearing in her head.

_"__Wow! Thanks! You're the best!" _He'd said. Watanuki was blushing all over again, her hands on her cheeks and she wiggled back and forth. She was so gone she didn't even notice Mokona on her shoulder, a shit-eating grin on its face.

"Yeah, and he looked so handsome too!" Watanuki sighed happily.

"Way to go!" Mokona said.

"You don't want to let her down." Watanuki knew that Yuko had completely pacified her, but she didn't want to admit it and she was also still thinking about how cute her crush was, to gone to care. "Now, aren't you supposed to meet Doumeki outside the school?" Watanuki's good mood snapped.

"How am I supposed to know?! You're the one who invited him!" Her hands were back on her head and she threw Mokona off as she swung her body around to get herself pumped up. "I'm ready now!" She cried triumphantly, "I may not want to have anything to do with that jerk, Doumeki but for Wari's sake I will go!" A round of applause came from Maru, Moro and Yuko.

"Well said!" Maru said.

"Well said!" Moro repeated.

"They grow up so quickly!" Yuko finished.

"You're my hero!" Mokona jumped up to add its two cents. Yuko slid her changing panel back, now fully clad in a maroon, purple and pale green kimono with lots of lace, smoke detail and crescent moon accents, the sash she had Maru grab for her the one of the most elaborate pieces Watanuki had ever seen her wear. She really did look like something from another world and Watanuki wondered where the witch had picked up on that presence.

"You'll be alright. I may not be going with you, but I'll still be able to advice." Yuko leaned on the panel, one hand still pulling the door back.

"Really?" Watanuki clapped her hands together and gave Yuko the shiniest eyes ever. "You will?"

"I'll need compensation of course. You're regular job isn't going to cover it." _I knew there was a catch! _

"Yuko!" Tears sprang to Watanuki's eyes. "Please just cut me a break this one time!"

"No." _Crap in a bucket. _"Here. You're going to need these." Yuko held up something Watanuki had never seen before and never wanted to see again.

"Wait. Why?" She rapid fired, blanching at the prospect of wearing what Yuko was holding.

Twenty minutes later, Watanuki was walking down the sidewalk, well, trudging, dragging, and dawdling, whatever you'd like to call stalling. She was unhappy on multiple accounts. She was peeved that she was set up, peeved that she had to go with Doumeki of all people and peeved that she had to wear…she didn't even want to think about it! She was nearing the school and spotted Doumeki by the gate. Well, Doumeki's leg because he was leaning against the side of the gate that she couldn't see. She dreaded walking up to him looking like she did and nervously fiddled with the fabric of her skirt, avoiding the light of the streetlamp so no one else saw what she was wearing.

"Where you been?" Doumeki asked, standing up to face the girl. She was beat red, the stupid headphones she was wearing finally being displayed for all the world to see. Watanuki had no clue where Yuko had gotten them, but they looked like rounded, white and pink cat ears…something a cosplayer would wear and Watanuki was _not _a cosplayer! The raven stopped a few feet from Doumeki, steeling her mind and ego for whatever insults or jabs he'd throw her way. They stared at each other a moment, waiting in silence. Doumeki's face didn't change, just stayed the dead pan it always was as the endless moment carried on. "Let's go." He said, giving the girl emotional whip lash.

"What's your problem!? Make fun of me already! I want to get all the wise cracks out of the way right now!" Watanuki yelled stomping her feet and pointing at her ridiculous headphones.

"Hey, if that's your style it's not really my place to comment." Doumeki replied, his voice the same as always. Watanuki was flustered, red in the face and completely ticked off that this boy didn't act like he was supposed to. He was supposed to laugh at her, dammit!

"You think I actually chose to wear these things!?" Watanuki growled, thinking about how she'd gotten roped into wearing the damn things.

_"__No way! I'm not wearing these things outside!" Watanuki yelled while wearing those things. Yuko was sitting on the floor drinking tea, calmly ignoring the sputtering girl. "What could I possibly need them for?!"_

_"__They're just like headphones." She replied, watching Mokona march around on the floor wearing the other set that looked like Watanuki's. "This way you can hear me no matter how far away you are and I can hear you."_

_"__And why couldn't we just use regular head phones?!" The seer waved an angry fist at her boss. Maru and Moro were reading a picture book over her, each holding one side of the book as they read out loud. _

_"__There was no one in the city. There were houses and you could see light shining from the windows. But in the streets, there was no one. Peeking inside from the window, there were people. But they are with them. I look in other houses. These people are with them, too. This city is just like all the rest…" (2)_

_"__I didn't have any." Yuko told Watanuki as the twins kept reading._

_"__And you couldn't find anything better than these stupid things?!"_

_"__Sorry. Those are the best kind." Yuko was serious. Watanuki calmed down, curious. _

_"__Really? Why?"_

_"__Because they're funny!" Yuko laughed, her I-got-you smile splitting her face. Watanuki did one of her little dances and gave up. _

"She's right. They are pretty funny looking." Doumeki commented after hearing Watanuki's explanation. The raven pointed an accusing finger at her classmate.

"You think I don't know that!?"

_"__You see? Domeki likes them too! They're cute on you, little Watanuki!" _Yuko said through the headphones. _"Since he can't hear me through these can you tell him what I have to say?" _Watanuki make a face.

"Really?"

_"__Tell him I say, 'Hello.'"_

"What do you need to talk to that jerk for?" Watanuki could just picture Yuko lounging on the floor with the other set of headphones on (she looked great in them while Watanuki just looked funny) and was probably playing a game of chess with Mokona (with Mokona shaped pieces she might add) just like when the girl left.

_"__Watanuki, I'm trying to be polite. We've never met before. We need to be properly introduced. So please tell Doumeki I say hello." _Watanuki growled again, grinding her teeth together before giving up. (She gave up a lot when it came to Yuko, the witch was just to tiring to fight sometimes.)

"Yuko wants me to give you a message." Doumeki turned toward Watanuki and Watauki looked away out of spite. "'Hi Doumeki, how are you doing?'"

"I'm fine, thank you."

"'That's good. My name's Yuko and I'm Watanuki's employer.'"

"Pleased to meet you."

"'Please take care of Watanuki for me tonight.'"

"Of course." _This is the strangest conversation I've had to date, _Watanuki thought, knowing that not many people had a three way conversation through headphones at night in front of a supposedly creepy school with spirit related problems.

"'Watanuki said that she thinks about you all the time and that she would die without you'-Hey! I never said that, Yuko!" Watanuki caught onto Yuko's trick and yelled at her, blushing and even deeper shade of red because she'd said that to _Doumeki, _her _rival_.

_"__Well, the headphones are working." _Watanuki could hear Yuko's you're-so-dumb-Watanuki smile through the headphones. _"Now, I think it's time to get started. I'll be here the whole time. Ask if you have any questions, okay?" _Watanuki was still making disgusted noises at the witch through the speakers. Mokona's laugh could be heard and Watanuki was about to yell at Yuko for somehow finding a third pair when the pair clinked glasses of sake (that Watanuki had provided for them) and shouted, _"To the school!"_

_"__Yeah!"_

"Yeah I know! I'm going, okay?!" Watanuki stomped her foot like a child again and rushed the gate, leaping up to grab the top of it with her hands. She hung there for a moment and then snapped at Doumeki. "What are you waiting for?! Let's get this over with!"

"You're the one who's not going anywhere." Doumeki walked over and stood under Watanuki, almost as if making sure she wouldn't fall, but Watanuki didn't believe that. The girl struggled to pull herself up and when she got her foothold at the top of the gate she looked up and gasped. A huge cloud of darkness was winding around the school like a snake, thick and clotted with and evil aura. It twisted and coiled around the building, alive and oppressive to the girl's perception.

"What is it?" Doumeki asked.

"There's something dark hovering over the school…a spirit maybe?" She looked down and saw Doumeki looking at the school. "I know you don't see anything. I'm the only one who can." She said harshly. "There's something wrong in there. This is unbelievable. This spirit is bigger than anything I've ever seen! And powerful."

"Do you think it has something to do with all the strange things happening in the school?"

"Yeah." Watanuki stared at the school a little longer, watching the spirit. She really didn't want to go in there with Doumeki, but even worse, she really didn't want to go in there alone so she'd have to deal with the lesser of the evils.

"You know I can see your panties from this angle." Doumeki informed the girl nonchalantly. Watanuki blushed again, a shiver prickling up her spine as she noticed that he really _could_ see up her skirt when he stood below her. "Blue's a good color on you."

"SHUT UP!" Watanuki fumed and hastily swung her leg over the side of the gate and jumped down before he could see anything else. The girl couldn't even look at him for a few minutes as he climbed over and could sense his amused smile (that is, if he ever smiled). Yuko was laughing at as well from inside the headphones.

_"__Have you reached the entrance?"_ The shop owner asked after she'd calmed down.

"Yeah."

_"__I take it you found a spirit there."_

"Oh yeah. A very strong one."

_"__Describe it to me."_

"It's dark and moving in circles, like it's trying to wrap itself around the school or something." Watanuki shivered again, hating the fact that she was going to have to go inside the building with that huge thing wrapped around it.

_"__Interesting." _Pause. _"It's a big shot. Careful." _Watanuki started to cry.

"That's just great." Doumeki just looked at her.

_"__Alright, the next step is breaking into the school." _The seer's tears dried up and she hissed.

"I knew that, thank you!" Watanuki started walking toward the school and Doumeki followed close behind, his arms crossed over his chest. "You know, I think she's enjoying this a little too much!"

The boy and girl walked around the school, looking for a way to get inside. The grounds were dark and Watanuki almost wanted to ask Doumeki to walk closer to her just so she could feel like spirits weren't going to pop out and try to eat her or possess her or something, but she hadn't lost too much pride from the headphones to actually say anything to that jerk. Thankfully though, Doumeki kept up with her as they checked all the windows, looking on the first floor and the second as they turned the corner to the side of the school. While she was looking, part of the huge spirit snaked by Watanuki and she froze in her tracks, squeaking in fear as it passed her and into a cracked window. Watanuki ran right under the window and tried to jump up to it, but it was much higher than the gate was and she wasn't getting up there without help. The girl sulked as Doumeki walked up beside her, giving her a look that said I'll-help-you-but-only-if-you-ask with his deep bronze eyes. And she hated to ask.

"I can't reach." The raven stated curtly, looking up at Doumeki with hard eyes.

"'Kay. What do you want me to do?" The brunette asked calmly. Watanuki grit her teeth, clenched her fists and debated for ten seconds with herself on the pros and cons of asking for help or looking like a fool when she clearly couldn't jump to the window and finally gave up.

"Can you help me up?" She grumbled.

"'Can you help me up…?" Doumeki started. Watanuki gave him a death glare.

"_Please_?" She growled, hating the whole conversation. Doumeki threaded his fingers together to make a foot hold for the girl's foot and bent down to help her up. Watanuki put a hand on his shoulder and her foot in his hands to boost herself up. "And don't look up my skirt!" She ordered as the strong boy lifted her up to the window's ledge.

"Too late. I'm really liking the lace." Watanuki used her free foot to kick him in the face, mushng his cheek against her shoe.

"Jerk!"

_"__See how well you two get along?" _Yuko teased.

"And you shut up!" Watanuki snapped at the headphones. The girl scooted over to the window and pushed it open all the way and grabbing the frame before leaning down and offering her and to Doumeki (even though she'd _love_ to leave him down there). Doumeki grabbed her hand and pulled himself up most of the way with his monster arm strength since Watanuki was a little short in the physical department. Once securely on the ledge, Watanuki jumped through the window and into the empty class room, hands instantly clapping over her mouth as she was surrounded in spirit aura. This time it smelled like wet dog and rotting potatoes.

"Ug." Watanuki waded through the stink and purple aura to open the door. The hallway wasn't much better – packed with spirit stink and clouds of purple.

_"__How's the inside?"_ Yuko asked.

"It's a disaster! There are spirits everywhere and a really disgusting smell!" Watanuki's voice sounded funny because she was pinching her nose shut with one hand so she didn't pass out from the smell of spirit.

_"__Does Doumeki smell anything?"_

"Hey, do you smell that?" Watanuki asked, turning to her shadow.

"Nope."

"He can't smell it," Watanuki reported to Yuko.

_"__Well, I would've been surprised if he could." _Watauki and Doumek stepped out into the hallway, the corridor seeming endless and creepy in the darkness. _"It looks like Wari was right about the damage Angel has caused. Something's very wrong."_

"Well, thank you for making me even more creeped out, Yuko." Watanuki tsked.

_"__That's what I'm here for!~"_

"Shut up." The girl started walking down the hallway, looking for the spirit, the game or whatever else might explain what was going on in the school. All the classrooms were empty and there was no one (and no _things_) in sight. The pair made it to the stairs where the smell was getting stronger, now hinted with the smell of poop. Watanuki cringed and started walking up the stairs, the oppressive aura of the sprits around her making her body heavy. She refused to unplug her nose, so she had to use one had instead of two to help haul herself up by the railing. Doumeki walked behind her as if nothing was wrong, which was totally unfair.

_"__Where is the smell strongest?"_ Yuko asked a few minutes later.

"It gets worse the further up we go." Watanuki replied, already tired and strung out from her ordeal.

_"__Then you need to keep climbing." _

"Okay." The raven mumbled.

"What's the matter?" Doumeki asked, trying to show some worry about the girl. He came off as unconcerned again because his voice was monotone. "You sick?"

"Well, I'll be fine!" Watanuki snapped, some of her usually snarky-ness coming back as her rival piped up. "What I don't understand is how you could look so relaxed!"

"Probably because I don't feel anything weird going on."

"I hate you." Watanuki grumbled, continuing to walk up the stairs. "Usually when there are so many spirits in one area they'll start zeroing in on me right away. Why not now?"

_"__It's because you have such a reliable friend with your, of course!~ You should be thanking Doumeki!" _Yuko pointed out.

"Thanking him?" Watanuki sighed, slumping her torso. Doumeki took another step closer.

"What is it?"

"She wants me to thank him but I can't even look at his face without-" Watanuki turned around, keeping her head down and clenching her fists in frustration. "Without wanting to-" Doumeki was giving her a confused look (well as confused as if face of stone would let him be – which was the ever so slight furrow in his eyebrows).

"Bleeeeh!" Watanuki yanked down one of her eyelids with her finger and stuck out her tongue at the boy.

"Did she tell you to do that?" Doumeki asked, referring to Yuko.

"Shut up!" Watanuki swiveled around, pinching her nose again and stomped up the stairs until she was being pressed down on again by the dark aura and had to slow down to a stumble. She heard Doumeki sigh behind her.

_"__This is fun!~" _Yuko said through the headphones.

_"__Yeah!" _Mokona agreed. Watanuki just growled and continued shambling up the dark, gloomy stairs. They reached the roof landing soon after that, Watanuki nearly falling to the ground in a dead faint. She swayed back and forth for a minute before stabilizing herself.

"Is up here where the smell is the strongest?" Doumeki asked.

"Uh huh. Over there." Watanuki pointed to the door leading to the roof.

"On the rooftop?"

_"__Go out onto the roof." _Yuko ordered. _"Be very careful." _Watanuki was going to answer with a sarcastic comment on how she was already being careful but refrained because Yuko was dead serious now. The girl reached for the door knob and timidly wrapped her hand around it before turning the knob. She cracked the door just the tiniest bit and suddenly all the aura trapped inside the school started getting sucked outside. Then the door instantly swung inward, nearly smashing into Watanuki as whatever was outside forced its way in.

"Gah!" Watanuki threw up both her hands to shield herself as she was pushed back by the force of the aura-wind thing. The raven felt a pair of supporting hands around her waist as she skidded back and refused to acknowledge Doumeki's stabilizing presence and solid body (half out of pride and the other half was too distracted by the smell and wind now that both her hands were occupied shielding her face instead of holding her nose).

Watanuki took a step forward, pushing her way outside and out onto the roof top, each footfall a challenge until suddenly, the wind was gone just as it came. That's when the spirits attacked. The silvery/purple blob crashed down on her back, forcing her into a crouch as she grunted. The blob split into three, two going to each of her arms to pull them back and the other to her leg to yank it forward, contorting the girl's body into a strange dance she had no control over. Then it let do and the raven crashed to the ground as the spirit tackled her again, pinning her to rooftop. She struggled to lift herself up, but the spirit was persistent and held her down. Watanuki heard Doumeki walk up beside her and knew he was seeing her do everything, only he couldn't see the spirit so it looked even odder and more stupid. And then the spirit was gone. Poof!

"You know you look like an idiot, right?" Doumeki said.

"Would you please shut up! I-" Watanuki cut herself off, eyes going wide as she sensed something more ominous behind her. There were voices too. "Did you hear that? Someone's crying!" She sat up and stumbled to her feet. Watanuki made her way across the roof top, looking across the railing to the weird blue/purple cloud on the other side of the school. The crying voices were getting louder and the stink was back so Watanuki plugged her nose again. The night disappeared, the cloud of spirit aura blocking out everything as Watanuki walked closer and closer. All she could see was darkness until three figures appeared, standing around a table. There were girls from the school, one blonde, one red head and one with black hair, still in their school uniforms too. The blonde and black-haired were holding onto the same object, the dark-haired girl leaning on the table as the three of them cried. It was plain freaky.

"Uh, hello." Watanuki greeted in her nasally voice, quiet enough not to scare the girls but loud enough to be heard over the sobs. "What are you girls doing here?"

"It's Angel!" The blonde girl's head snapped up, eyes wide in panic.

"It won't let us leave!" The black-haired girl told the raven.

"It won't listen to anything we tell it!" The blond spoke again.

"It writes the most frightening things and we don't know why!" The read head took her hands away from her eyes to speak and then went straight back to sobbing.

"Frightening? How?" Watanuki took her hand off her nose, forgetting all about the smell and looked at the blonde and brunette's hands. They were both clutching a pen that was poised over a board of characters. Watanuki looked closer and saw that someone had written "die" in kanji with the pen, the character taking up a good portion of the board.

"We've asked it to let us leave so many times!" One of the girls spoke but Watanuki didn't see which one because she was too busy looking at the board.

"But why not let go?" She asked, pointing out the obvious.

"We can't!" The dark-haired girl squeaked. "It told us that if we let go the three of us will be cursed!" The pen started moving, twitching ever so slightly.

"Look! It's starting to move again!" The blonde said, fear written all over her face. The pen started hovering over different words, circling certain ones before moving onto the next. "The…three…of…you…will…stay…here…until…you're…all…dead!"

"Oh no!" All three girls screamed.

_"__What's going on Watanuki?"_ Yuko asked.

"Well, there are three girls up here on the roof. They're using Angel."

"Who are you talking too?" The blonde asked desperately. "Not Angel is it?"

"No. No. Not that!" Watanuki consoled.

"Are we really trapped here until we die?!" The dark-haired girl asked, tears running down her face. The red head started walking toward Watanuki, going around the table.

"Can we use that to ask?" She was referring to the headphones.

"Uh, no-Wait!" The red head tried to grab Watanuki's silly head phones off her ears and the seer grabbed her wrists to stop her from doing so.

"Give it to me!" Watanuki leaned her head out of the girl's reach, pushing her away.

"I'm sorry but-" The other two girls screamed, the pen running around the board wilding and pulling their limp bodies along with it.

"My arm feels like it's going to rip off!" The dark-haired girl screamed.

"Why don't you just let go?!" Watanuki batted the red head away as she ran towards the other girls.

"If they do they'll-" The red head never finished. Watanuki grabbed the two girl's wrists as she reached the table and started pulling. They didn't want to let go so Watanuki pulled harder, screwing up her face in concentration.

"I can't quite get it!" She growled, pulling even harder.

_"__Watanuki, hold on a minute!" _Yuko called, her voice slightly panicked, just slightly. _"Watanuki!"_

"It told us there's a curse!" The red head was clinging to the seer's arms now, trying to pull her away.

"We'll deal with that later!"

"We'll die!"

"Stop!" Watanuki yanked their hands apart, the pen clattering to the table and the smog around the four girls dissipating in a vortex-like swirl to reveal the gray evening. There was a moment of silence before the chaos.

"We're going to die!" All three girls screamed and started running for the railing at the edge of the school. Watanuki was faster and blocked off their path before they could do something stupid, leaning against the railing and warding them off.

"Just calm down!" Watanuki shot a look over to her classmate, just casually standing with his hands on his hips. "I could use a little help over here, Doumeki!" She hissed.

"With what?" He asked. "You've been talking to yourself for the past five minutes." Watanuki eyes went wide. _If I'm by myself, then the girls are…! _The seer's head snapped toward the girls who were strangely silent now. The aura was back. The girl's shoulders were slumped, their hands opening and closing like they wanted to grab something. Their eyes had disappeared, a grotesque splitting each girl's face.

"We warned you." They hissed, their voices taking on an otherworldly tone. All three sets of hands came up and pushed Watanuki backwards, her back levering over the edge of the railing and falling down. The close contact with the spirits blacked the girl out, falling unconscious as she tipped over the side.

Doumeki had no clue what was going on with his companion. Watanuki had been spouting nonsense ever since they had gotten on the roof. She did that weird little dance and fell to the ground and then walked across the roof and started doing some sort of mime thing; only she broke the rules of mimery and kept talking with her nagging voice. Doumeki just stood calmly through it all, guessing that Watanuki was talking to something he couldn't see. He was going to inform the girl about it, but she seemed to into her conversation to pay much attention to him. It was only when she wildly ran for the railing that she snapped at the boy and he just said it like it was: she was a weirdo who'd been talking to herself. Then the girl went limp, her eyes wide with horror and then she just tipped back, like she'd been pushed by someone who wasn't there. That's when Doumeki reacted. He ran towards the falling girl and grabbed onto her wrists before she could fall, her limp body swinging over a three story drop. Watanuki wasn't that heavy, but Doumeki had to support himself on the railing with his other arm anyway, slight panic for his companion temporarily taking over his whole brain.

And even though the boy couldn't see it, the girl's were disappearing, their bodies morphing into a yellow, clotted, dripping mass of red eyes and evil intent as they crept closer.

"Oi, Watanuki!" Doumeki called down. "You might want to wake up now. Open your eyes." Watanuki's eyes blinked open, the horrid spirit aura that made her lose consciousness dissipating for some reason. She blinked her eyes a few times and looked left, then right, her eyes bleary even with her glasses. She calmly noticed that she was dangling over the side of the building. Over the side of the building. Dangling. Ready to drop.

"WAHHH!" Watanuki screamed, flailing around as she realized where she was.

"Hurry and climb up." Doumeki didn't even point out the fact that it was the girl's stupidity that landed them in this situation.

"Trust me, I'm trying!" Watanuki reached up with her free hand as Doumeki let go of the railing and extended his down. The drippy, yellow spirit was closing in on Doumeki from behind, its ominous presence leaning over him. Watanuki's eyes went wide with a different sort of fear this time.

"Che!" Watanuki blanched, her body freezing. Doumeki looked behind him but saw nothing.

"I take it that there's something behind me?"

"There is! Whatever spirits the Angel game is channeling have apparently gathering into one spot!" Watanuki looked the red eyes of the spirit boring into her as it's wiggling arms reached towards Doumeki. It smiled, its red mouth grinning cruelly. Its arm wound around Doumeki free one, the one Watanuki was trying to grab, squeezing it tightly. Doumeki felt a sharp pain in his arm for no reason, but knew that it was the spirit that Watanuki was seeing. And then there was a pinch in his other arm, the one that was holding onto Watanuki. _It wants me to drop her, _Doumeki deduced. He tightened his grip, determined not to let Watanuki go.

"Doumeki!" She shouted.

"Quit struggling, and please _shut up._" Doumeki was still calm, his voice even.

"Don't tell me what to do!" She shouted back. The spirit retracted its arm, leaving a trail of blood dripping down from Doumeki's arm onto Watanuki's wrist. "That's blood! That's a lot of blood!" The spirit chuckled deeply, pleased with its work.

_"__Watanuki, listen to me. The girls aren't human so you need to avoid touching them." _Yuko was still coaching from the headphones, but it was a little late for that piece of advice.

"Yeah, I know!" She screamed back, Doumeki's grip sliding from the blood. The girl panicked.

_"__So you already did. That thing is a trash heap."_

"A what?!"

_"__It's like a collection of spirits, all the scum left behind by the students who dabble in the occult, like the girls who were using Angel." _Pause. _"The game is used to summon spirits. Most of the time armatures don't succeed and pass it off as a game of make-believe. Occasionally things go right and the benign spirit that was called will show up. But then, players will get board. They crave something more exciting, more dangerous. They begin to think it would be more interesting if something scary had shown up. If something strange were to happen. If someone were – maybe – to get hurt. These unintentionally evil thoughts leave behind the scum that you see now." _Watanuki watched the trash heap hang around Doumeki, teasing his hurt arm. Then she started, the other, huge spirit passing under her in a snake of purple and blue aura.

"The dark spirit from before is underneath me now!" Watanuki looked down in alarm.

_"__The one that was wrapping around the school?"_

"Wah!" Watanuki screamed as the spirit surged up, brushing against her back.

_"__That dark thing is going to-"_ Yuko cut out.

"I can't hear you!" Watanuki yelled. The dark spirit reached the top of the school and the aura reformed as a black snake with huge yellow eyes.

_"__Remember it's a big shot, so be careful!" _Watanuki was shaking, looking up at the massive spirit, frozen in place. It twisted around, its fanged maw opening in a roar and then diving down towards the pair.

"WATCH OUT, DOUMEKI!" Watanuki shrieked. But the spirit was more interested in the trash heap and gobbled it up in one bite. That definitely stumped Watanuki. _I guess it was hungry. _Doumeki got tired of waiting for Watanuki to climb up, her wrist and hand steadily slipping out of his own as she worried about the two spirit around them that he couldn't see and the boy didn't want to drop her so he hauled her up in one pull and they both crashed to the ground as the girl flew over the railing. Watanuki landed hard on her back, the air getting knocked out of her as Doumeki fell back on his but, clutching his stinging, bleeding arm. Watanuki's head smacked the ground and her headphones popped off, spiraling out onto the rooftop. She sat up, rubbing her head and then spotted the big shot.

"IT'S A GIANT SNAKE!" She screamed, flailing around in fright.

"Where?" Doumeki asked, trying to see what she could.

"Oh yeah! I forget that you can't see it!" Watanuki stopped wiggling for a second and wondered what it would be like _not_ to see the spirit. Much, much scarier, she decided, to not know what was going on.

"Tell me, what are we supposed to do with a big snake?" Doumeki asked, holding his arm as he pretended to see what Watanuki was seeing.

"Yeah, that's what I'd like to know!" The girl crouched, ready to make a dash to her headphones before the snake got her. "YUKO!" She yelled, running. The spirit cut her off, its huge head and body snaking in front of the headphones before she could get them, hissing in anger. Watanuki wailed and stumbled back. The snake curved around and made another dive at the girl. Watanuki's eyes got huge and she started running, grabbing Doumeki's arm to drag him along. They ran across the rooftop, getting cut off and shoved into the corner, Watanuki still hanging on to Doumeki until they couldn't go anywhere.

"Let's just stay very still." Watanuki cautioned, her grip on Doumeki's sleeve tightening to bone crushing proportions.

"Since we're looking up at this, I'm guess it's a very tall snake." Doumeki stated calmly, the exact opposite of what Watanuki was.

"Uh huh." Watanuki's mouth had stopped working as the snake glared down at the pair.

"I do feel a chill from that direction." Doumeki noted offhandedly.

"How are you being so composed right now?!" She yelled, her annoyance overriding her fear for a snarky comment. The snake reared up, growling and went in for the kill. "IT'S GONNA EAT US!" Watanuki closed her eyes, burying her face in Doumeki's arm, hating that her last moments were with her worst enemy (but that didn't stop her from clinging to him).

_"__Please calm yourself and be still!" _Yuko's voice intoned from the headphones, loud enough for the snake and her little workers to hear. Watanuki peeked her eyes open and looked at the snake's open mouth (because it was too close to see anything else other than their doom). _"I offer myself as a sacrifice to you, great spirit." _Unbelievably, the snake pulled away from the live humans and nodded its head around the headphones before flicking them into its mouth with its purple tongue and licking its chops, apparently satisfied. The snake hummed and then disappeared over the side of the building, its tail flicking before leaving the rooftop to the two classmates.

"Is it gone?" Doumeki asked, his chill disappearing.

"Yeah. The snake went back to wherever it came from." Watanuki pointed in a general direction trying to keep her knees from giving out. "Maybe it just needed a snack." Watanuki noticed that she was still holding onto Doumeki and failed her arms to get away, hoping he didn't think that it meant anything. She slyly wiped her hands on her skirt. "It doesn't matter. If you don't want to believe me, then don't." She snapped curtly. Watanuki didn't expect Doumeki to get it, nobody else did. Nobody else believed her besides Yuko, the twins and Mokona (but they really didn't count because they were a whole other type of weird).

"Who said anything about not believing you? I don't define reality as that which I'm able to see, hear, and touch. " Doumeki's words shocked Watanuki. Most other people just passed her off as crazy and avoided her, but he was openly admitting that he could believe her. "Even though I'm not able to see them, you've said that spirits have been drawn to you and followed you your whole life. If you say that there are spirits, I believe that there are."

"Okay." Watanuki replied, stunned that someone actually believed her, that he didn't have fun of her and call her weird. That he didn't shut her out because she was different. It was almost sweet. Almost.

"But it is pathetic that you started bawling like a little girl every time you see one."

"Why you-!" The special moment was shattered and Watanuki just wanted to strangle the boy.

"I have to say, I am sorry we lost those headphones. I'm going miss them." The comment deflated Watanuki.

"Seriously?" The seer asked.

"Of course. They made you look so funny."

"That's it! I'm going to beat you up Doumeki!" Watanuki threatened, readying her hands to claw his eyes out. Doumeki just head one arm to stop the girl, his strong grip keeping her flailing hands from getting with and arms length of his face. He then dragged her to the stairs and out of the school before she could physically assault him before they got to a medical care center.

The next day, Yuko insisted on taking everyone to the park for a treat. And by treat she meant making Watanuki cook takoyaki (3). The girl had to carry everything to the park including the table, the fryer, all the ingredients, the kitchen supplies to make the takoyaki with and the dishes to serve it on. That put her in a foul mood as she cooked, her hair all prickly in irritation under her handkerchief. Doumeki was sitting cross-legged on the ground, his right arm all bandaged up and in a sling from their adventure last night and Wari was sitting on the duck seat, his bright smile back now that his friend's school had been helped.

"Now, Doumeki, I insist!" Yuko said smiling. On this outing she was wearing a long sleeved white top with a high red collar that stretched across her breasts, neck and part of her shoulder, paired with a dark skirt (with a slit…again) and black boots. "You've had such a hard day! You deserve some refreshment!" Mokona hopped over to Doumeki with a bottle of sake (why Yuko insisted on giving minors alcohol Watanuki would never understand, she just knew she wasn't going to drink any – it could be poisoned for all she knew).

"How kind of you. I'd love some." Doumeki held his glass down to Mokona (the strange animal not even phasing him).

"Drink up!~" The fur ball commanded happily, pouring the boy a drink.

"I really want to thank you guys." Wari started. "Because of you, everything's gone back to normal at my friend's school! You know, you're amazing." Watanuki beamed, tossing the takoyaki into the air to flip it.

"Aw, no!~" The raven deflected, embarrassed by the compliment.

"I meant to ask, Doumeki, how's your arm doing?"

"Fine." Watanuki growled as she was ignored, Wari's attention turning to their classmate.

"Are you sure? Its looks painful."

"Na. It's not too bad." What Doumeki didn't say was that he didn't mind it, as long as he could help out his friend.

"So about the snake," Watanuki turned to Yuko as she talked. "It looked like it was protecting the rooftop from those other spirits, right? So it really couldn't have been something evil, could it?" Yuko smiled, holding her can of beer gently. Mokona hopped onto Wari's lad and the boy gingerly held the small, obnoxious creature.

"Well, its presence certainly did come in handy for you." She noted, her cranberry eyes casting over the group. "Malicious intent is something only humans define. To spirits like the snake, intentions don't really matter. It was simply protecting what it considered to be its territory by removing the threat of the other spirits."

"So basically you're telling me that the snake would've taken care of everything even if we hadn't been there?" Watanuki asked, disappointed that she'd had to go through the whole experience. "Aw."

"No, you've got it all wrong." Yuko continued. "It only came because it was attracted by you, Watanuki." The girl stared at her, a little confused. "Like all spirits, the snake found your presence irresistibly attractive. You look so delicious to them…they hunger for you." Yuko set her can down and walked over to Watanuki. "And that's why…I insisted you take Doumeki with you!" Yuko had her mischievous smile one when she clapped her little worker on the shoulder. Watanuki growled.

"But I don't like him!" She grabbed her head in frustration, running her hands all over. "I don't want him coming with me everywhere!"

"His presence counterbalances yours," Yuko said, ignoring Watanuki's antics. "He wards off evil spirits."

"But I wasn't even doing anything." Watanuki stared at Doumeki and Doumeki stared back.

"Just because you weren't aware of it doesn't mean you weren't doing anything. You helped a lot." Yuko brought her hand up to her face flirtatiously and gazed at her employee. "Watanuki wouldn't have been about to make it through such a heavy concentration of spirits by herself! Because you were there, Doumeki, she was able to make it through the spirits and up to the roof." Yuko put on her shit eating grin. "Besides!~ Didn't you hurt your arm trying to save her up there?" She guilted Watanuki and the girl's shoulders slumped as she groaned. Watanuki gave Doumeki a look, not wanting to thank him. They stared at eachother and then Doumeki saved her from saying thanks.

"Sorry, did you want some?" He asked, holding up a ball of takoyaki to her, thinking that was what she wanted.

"NO! I don't want it! I don't need your leftovers!" The girl shouted, shaking a fist at him.

"You guys are so funny when you argue!" Wari laughed.

"Wari!~Would you like me to get Mokona off your lap for you?" Watanuki doted, holding out her hands. "I know I can be annoying sometimes."

"What was that?!" The fur ball hopped up and down in indignation. "That's not a very nice thing to say, Watanuki!" The girl took a step back from the raging fur ball.

"No, please leave it! It's so adorable that I want to take it home with me! But I won't!" The boy joked. Mokona hummed in appreciation.

"Hey." Doumeki caught Watanuki's attention.

"What do you want?!" She snapped.

"Seconds." Doumeki held out his plate

"You're already finished?! I haven't even gotten to eat anything yet!" She snatched his plate out of his hands and went to refill it. "Oh fine! Wait there. I'll make some more!" Watanuki stomped off.

"Could you hurry?" Doumeki asked.

"Don't rush me!" Watanuki hissed. Yuko looked at her fine little worker.

_One young girl for whom the spirits hunger. And one young man who keeps them away without knowing it. _

"This could be very entertaining, indeed." She smiled slyly.

"Yuko! Wipe that look off your face!" Watanuki yelled, not liking what Yuko could be thinking about (it would probably involve more work for her). Yuko just laughed in answer and snagged a plate of food for herself.

To be continued...

A/N: There you go! You've all day your Doumeki fix now! :3 don't forget to RxR!

Edit: Obviously I can't spell because my fingers are too tired and I just noticed that the above line is in serious need of attention. What I meant to way was: "There you go! Now you've all had your Doumeki fix!" I apologize for any confusion I might have caused.

1\. the entryway to a Japanese building where they take off their shoes before entering the rest of the building.

2\. I'll take a story request for xxxHolic from the first person to post in the reviews what book the twins are reading and where it's from! :3 (and I mean, _any _request your little heart desires!) Hint: there are other references to this series made in the same episode (xxxHolic episode three)

3\. Takoyaki is a fried dish made out of wheat-flour and is typically filled with diced octopus, tempura scraps, pickled ginger and green onion. Yum!


	4. The Fortune-Teller and The Full Moon

A/N: ZareEraz here! Sorry this is a day late but I had, like, three essays this week for school! But I posted anyway! :3 There's not as much Doumeki in this chapter, but I tried to make them as fun and interesting as possible! (Don't worry...next week's chapter has the hydrangea episode in it so I'm going to have fun with that one! *wink wink*) Enjoy! And don't forget to RxR!

Chapter Three: The Fortune-Teller and The Full Moon

"Who knew you were such a good cook, Watanuki!" Wari complimented the girl, holding up her fork with a piece of fried egg on it. "This tamagoyaki is absolutely delicious! It's so fluffy!"

"Right back at you! You're meatballs are awesome!" Watanuki held up her chopsticks with said meatball.

"I can't take credit for those! I bought them!" Watanuki's face crumbled, her embarrassment showing through. "All I did was warm them up!" _And he says it with such a straight face! _Watanuki put her hand behind her head and nervously scratched her scalp.

"Oh! R-right! W-well, in that case the temperature is-" She shoved the meat ball in her mouth quickly, chewed and swallowed. "Just perfect! Yum!"

"Moron." Watanuki's face snapped as she glared at the unwanted lunch guest that was Doumeki. He was sitting a little apart from Watanuki and Wari, stuffing tamagoyaki into his mouth with his uninjured arm, the other still wrapped in a sling.

"I wasn't talking to you, Dou-and why the hell are you eating that?! It's mine!" She hissed. "What happened to that lunch I made for you?! Why don't you just go choke on it somewhere else, 'kay?!"

"Gone." Watanuki grimaced in frustration. Wari laughed at the two of them, his cute smile sending Watanuki into a fit of mental, "Wahahahahah!" as she clapped her hands together and blushed.

"You guys are so hilarious! You sound like siblings!" Wari laughed.

"This guy?! Are you serious?" Watanuki pointed at Doumeki, her face the picture of dissatisfaction at the idea of being related to him. Doumeki was still eating. "I know it might seem like that with me making his lunch for him but there's a perfectly good explanation for it-HEY! Don't eat that!" Watanuki hissed again. _I know I promised to make lunch for Doumeki to thank him for helping me out the other day, saving me from those evil spirits or whatever. _The girl frowned, looking back at Wari. _But I can't tell Wari about that! He'd think I'm crazy! _Watanuki clutched her chopsticks in her fist as she grimaced in frustration. _Besides,_

"It would just be giving him one more reason to ignore me and talk to him!" Watanuki hadn't even realized she'd said that last part out loud. She clutched her head and wriggled around as she argued with herself. "But if I don't say anything he's going to start ignoring me anyway! Bwah!"

"Hey, Watanuki?" Wari asked, looking up from his lunch.

"Wait-what? Who me?" The girl asked, pointing at her nose. She looked from Wari to Doumeki to Wari again and nearly bust into tears. _Whee! He picked me! _(For some reason, Watanuki had it in her head that Doumeki was a rival for the affections of Wari – which was completely stupid because neither boy was interested in the other in _that _way. Mostly it was Watanuki being a butthead.) _Eat that, Doumeki! _She sneered at the brunette and turned to Wari, scooting closer. "Yes, Wari!~ What can I do for you?"

"I was wondering: when's your birthday?"

"It's April first. Are you going to throw me a party?" Watanuki got excited at the mere mention of Wari throwing her a party. Wari was ignoring her happy face and reached into his school bag for a book, pulling it out and opening it.

"Ah ha! So you're a spring time baby, huh? I think that's absolutely adorable!" Wari smiled at the seer. This time, Watanuki did actually burst into tears. _He thinks I'm adorable! _ "How about you, Doumeki?" Doumeki stopped sipping his juice box (looking so cool at the same time) and looked at Wari with his dead pan face.

"Mine's March third." Watanuki covered her mouth to laugh and pointed at the boy in contempt.

"The day of doll festival?" The seer sniggered.

"That's cute." Wari said, amused as well but still respectful. Watanuki fell backwards, her laughter dying in her throat. She rolled over in a cloud of depressed emotions and buried her face in the grass. _He said it was cute. He said something about Doumeki was cute. _

"It's over! I'm ruined!" She wallowed in self-pity. Doumeki just looked at her and refrained from rolling his eyes.

"Hey, Watanuki!" The girl's ear perked up at the sound of her name coming from Wari's lips. "You're and Aries, right? My birthday's November twenty-seventh. That makes me a Sagittarius. This book says that we're compatible because Aries and Sagittarius are both fire signs. Relationships between these two signs are competitive and adventurous and work really well together. " Watanuki sat up like she was rising from the dead, her hand on her heart and the other in the air like she was swearing in as a witness in a court case, surrounded by mental flames of awesomeness. _Fire signs, I thank you for this day! _The rest of the day was spent in a happy phase except for the moment when Wari said that Watanuki's Aries and Doumeki's Pisces sun signs were of a medium compatibility and that their relationship would grow over time into a match unlike any other. That pissed her off because she didn't even _like_ Doumeki, never mind trying to start a _relationship_ with him!

When Watanuki walked into work that afternoon she didn't even get pissed that Yuko and Mokona were drinking, sharing the joy of alcohol together at the table. Today, Yuko's outfit was a Chinese-style dress in purple with her customary slits up the sides and a cut out around her breasts with a pink bustier to cover up her boobs.

"This is delicious! What do you think? Should I have Watanuki go out and buy some more later?" Yuko asked her drinking companion.

"Mmhmm!~" Mokona nodded its approval.

"Heeellllooo!" Watanuki sang as she walked in, still starry-eyed over her lunch time conversation. "I'm ready for work!"

"Watanuki's here!~" Maru and Moro said together, flanking the girl on either side.

"So, drinking in the middle of the afternoon again, I see." Watanuki smiled sarcastically, had on her hip. "What about food? Did you finish off that fish I made yesterday?" Yuko put down her glass and plopped her head into her hand.

"I'm not really in the mood for fish today. I'm hungry for something with more carbohydrates."

"So, you didn't eat anything? Just skipped lunch altogether?" The seer asked.

"Yes."

"Well, my lunch was fantastic!" Watanuki blushed just thinking about it! She turned away from Yuko, her face morphing from happy to suspicious. "Wait! No, I shouldn't talk about it to her. This memory must be kept locked up inside my heart!" Watanuki generated a rainbow ball of light and shoved it back into her chest, locking the memory away. "Anyway! You've caught me in a good mood today, so I'll make you anything you want!" Watanuki threw her arms in the air and twirled around, her skirt flying up to reveal her panda panties, but she really didn't care.

"Lucky me." Yuko said, her voice dead pan. Watanuki skipped around the porch.

"La, la, la! Do you want to ask me why? I bet you do! Go ahead! Ask me!" She smiled hugely. Yuko looked away, putting her head on her knuckles.

"What happened to keeping the memory locked up inside you're heart?"

"I can't contain it!~" And so Watanuki told Yuko everything about what happened at lunch while she was making linner for Yuko (which included noodles, two bowls of rice and three plates of sandwiches…and sake, of course).

"But that was from just looking at your sun sign, right?" Yuko chopstick-ed some noodles into her mouth.

"Sun sign?" Watanuki asked, cocking her head to the side as she stood by Yuko's table.

"There's still the location of the moon and the location of Venus…unless you look at your complete horoscope, you'll never know how truly compatible the two of you are." There was a pregnant pause. "But you knew that." Yuko smiled her just-try-to-act-like-you-know-what-I-was-just-talking-about-even-if-you-don't-and-I'll-crush-you smile.

"Astrology really isn't my thing." Watanuki waved it off and Yuko was disappointed that the girl had admitted defeat. She really wanted to crush something.

"Okay…then how about fortune-telling." Yuko asked, her eyes serious.

"_Definitely_ not my thing." Watanuki replied. Yuko stood up, picked up the flavored soup that was the remains of her noodle dish and tipped back the bowl swallowing the whole thing in five gulps and sighing in satisfaction.

"Perfect." She smiled like a cat. "Let's go."

"Yeah! Let's do it!~" Mokona cheered.

"Wha?" Watanuki asked, clearly confused. Of course, "let's go" meant that Yuko had to change her clothes before going out (like she always did). Now the witch was dressed in a grey skirt, thigh high black boots, a white and black jacket with a dragon crawling all over the sleeves, paired with black gloves and a genie pony tail on top of her head. Once she was changed, then they could go.

"Where are we going exactly?" Watanuki asked as they walked down the street.

"To a place where we can have your fortune told." Yuko smiled a devious smile. "I'm curious to see what will be revealed."

"'Kay, but like I said, I'm not really interested in that stuff." Watanuki replied, shrugging the bag with Mokona in it up her shoulder. "I mean, it's kinda stupid. Like some made up star sign is really going to reveal the course of everyone's life."

"That isn't the point, my dear girl. Other girls your age find this stuff fascinating. It's been known to snag a few boys as well. Knowledge of the arts could make your talks with Wari more engaging since he's shown an interest in this stuff." Watanuki stopped walking for a second, the possibilities opening up before her. Lunch time conversations, comparing horoscopes over homework, spending time together…the thoughts excited the girl so much she trembled in the middle of the sidewalk.

"Fortune-telling rules!" She shouted happily. Yuko's smiling face popped up behind her.

"I see success in your future!" She cheered. (The only problem was _what_ kind of success it was. She said nothing about Wari, and that could really disappoint her employee.)

"But you still haven't told me where we're going yet." The trio was walking along again like that still outburst hadn't happened.

"We're about to pay a visit to the fortune-teller I consult."

"The one you consult-Whoa! You mean to tell me you have someone else tell your fortune?!"

"Does that surprise you?" Yuko asked as Watanuki jumped to catch up with her long gait.

"Can't you do it yourself?"

"Shifting through one's own future is strictly taboo." Yuko held up her hand to lecture. "Besides, it's useless. You end up reading signs as you wish them to be. Predictions and divinations are tricky things."

"Soooo, you're saying that there's a difference between the two?"

"Regarding authenticity. Don't worry, it'll all be clear to you soon enough." The smile she wore this time was her cat-ate-the-canary smile, the one she usually wore when she was about to throw Watanuki to the dogs. Watanuki ignored it, the normalicy of getting into trouble not even shocking her anymore, and patted the bag with Mokona in it.

"So what's with the sake?" She asked, pointing at the bottle in the bag.

"It's a present."

"You drink with her?!" Watanuki flipped out while Mokona cheered. _Another alcoholic?! _

"Drink!~ Drink!~" The fur ball shouted.

"That's right!~" Yuko pumped her fist into the air. "Let's go!" They walked for a while longer, Watanuki shaking her head the whole time until Yuko led her to an old mansion complete with slight-creepy trees and an iron gate to boot. Yuko's eyes went wide as they crossed onto the property, she gasped softly as well.

"Is something wrong? Is this not the place?" Watanuki asked, looking at her boss.

"No."

"How did we get the wrong location?"

"The location's correct…it's what's inside." Yuko responded.

"Oh. Well, let's go home then!" Watanuki said happily, glad to be rid of this whole fortune-telling business. Yuko on the other hand, was not done and started walking up to the front porch.

"What are you doing?" Watanuki trotted to catch up to the woman who was now on the porch.

"I'm curious…as to what manner of fortune-teller calls this place home now." Yuko reached out and turned the diamond shaped door knob. There was a maid in uniform waiting on the other side of the door when the witch opened it and she smiled at the unexpected guests and led both of them into a parlor of sorts. There was a long table with teacups already set out and steaming when Watanuki and Yuko had a seat on the couch. The maid exited after that, leaving them alone. The only light in the room was from the open window and the chair across from the pair was empty. A pair of clipboards was on the table as well, along with two pens in a creepy looking heart wrapped in thorns holder.

"What's this?" Watanuki asked, pointing to the clipboard as she set her bag down.

"A personal information board." Yuko answered. "It's a general survey so they can collect data." Mokona hopped out of the bag and went over to sit next to Yuko.

"Oh, I see." Watanuki picked up a pen and started to fill out the board.

"Wow!" Mokona was twirling a spoon in its hands, its face going from right side up to wrong side down as it flipped the utensil. The fur ball quickly put down the spoon with a click as the door opened. The same made from before entered with a beautiful woman with long blonde hair held back in a head band to matched her pink and maroon dress.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." The woman said, her voice sounding a lot like Yuko's with its soft and mysterious tone. Watanuki stood up and bowed.

"No, not at all." Watanuki only sat down when their host did.

"Are you together?" The woman asked. Yuko smiled.

"I'm her chaperone." Yuko stated, quickly excluding herself from the experiment. The fortune-teller's amber eyes drifted down to Mokona, who'd going completely still and lifeless whilst sitting on the sofa.

"What a cute stuffed toy." The lady commented, reaching for Watanuki's finished information sheet. Watanuki looked at Yuko nervously, but the witched didn't look over. The fortune-teller scanned the seer's sheet and then handed it to her maid.

"There's nothing to be nervous about," she assured, smiling softly. _She seems really nice, _the raven thought, smiling back. _Not nearly as crabby as Yuko. _The witch's head snapped in her charge's direction.

"Crabby, am I?" She asked, her you're-dead-smile on her face. Watanuki jumped, startled at her employer's sudden comment.

"Was I speaking out loud!?" She asked, almost sure she had been thinking instead of speaking. "I didn't mean what I said! Honest!" Only she _did_ mean it. The fortune-teller laughed softly, covering her mouth with her palm. Yuko gave her a hard look, studying her face. The maid walked back in with a thin booklet and the fortune-teller took it out of her hands and turned back to her guests.

"What do you say we get started?" She asked. Watanuki perked up.

"O-okay." The girl agreed, paying very close attention to the woman.

"I am sensing…your father. He has moved on, hasn't he?" The fortune-teller started, crossing her hands across the folder on her lap and closing her eyes. Watanuki's eyes widened, shocked. Yuko didn't look so impressed.

"That's right," Watanuki started. "My dad passed away when I was just a little girl." Watanuki crossed and uncrossed her legs nervously, hands twisting into the fabric of her skirt.

"And your mother…"

"She's also gone."

"Siblings?"

"Just me."

"You suffered some stout hardships at a young age."

"Yeah, you understand!" Watanuki was impressed now. This lady _knew_ her without every knowing her! Yuko was not impressed, her face still a stone wall. No one saw it but Mokona was making a face over on its end of the couch. The fortune-teller flipped through the booklet on her lap.

"You're living on your own, right?" She asked.

"Yes, in an apartment." Watanuki answered.

"You are a loner with a strong, independent spirit, and you are full of vigor. And I imagine you are good with domestic chores."

"I don't mind them." Watanuki replied.

"You have inner strength and self-confidence. Athlete?"

"I like sports." The lady smiled.

"Active and intelligent, I see." Watanuki blushed a little at the compliment.

"I-I'm average."

"Right now, you have issues with human relations."

"Is it that obvious?" Watanuki asked, her compliment blush turning into an embarrassed one.

"So it would seem." Yuko snubbed, turning toward the girl.

"It's okay, you're just being honest. And as long as you treat people with sincerity, you'll never have any problems with them." The fortune-teller supplied.

"Sincerity?" Watanuki repeated, looking at Yuko.

"Pay attention!" The witch whipped her head around and smacked Watanuki with her long pony tail.

"Ow!" The fortune-teller ignored them.

"Have you any other worries?" She asked. Watanuki smiled nervously again.

"Well…yes…but it's sorta…" She started. Watanuki didn't know how to even being approaching the subject about spirits following and attacking her. It would sound crazy, even to a lady that could read the future and stuff like that.

"Difficult to talk about?" The lady finished.

"That's it."

"It'll be alright. As long as you keep your spirits up. Thinking gloomy thoughts will turn everyone and everything around you unpleasant. No matter the obstacle, stay positive and see the best in the world and things will get better." Even though the words were comforting, Watanuki didn't smile back at the fortune-teller. She clenched her hands together, a frown appearing on her lips as her eyebrows scrunched together. She was thinking about the spirits again, how they always seems to be right behind her all the time, tormenting her.

"Those words are easier said than followed." The fortune-teller admitted, snapping the girl out of her thoughts. "Still, if you do nothing you'll never move forward. Try to have courage."

"Right…" Watanuki whispered, still lost in her dark thoughts. She realized a few moments later that the reading was over when the fortune-teller didn't say anything else. The girl's head snapped up.

"Thank yo-" The raven started before she was interrupted.

"Can you tell me today's weather forecast?" Yuko asked out of the blue. Watanuki gave her a surprised look. Yuko's eyes were narrowed, her lips in a slight frown, like she was challenging the fortune-teller.

"Like the newspaper said: we'll have sunny skies all day." The lad smiled at the request.

"Yes." Yuko whispered, a small version of her devious smile on her face.

"Yuko?" Watanuki looked over at the woman.

"I'm sorry, your time is up." The maid stepped forward as she spoke.

"Would you like to continue?" The fortune-teller asked.

"No." Yuko stood up. "I believe we're done." They thanked the fortune-teller lady and the maid walked the pair out as Watanuki stood and grabbed Mokona and stuffed it back in her bag. Yuko was silent as they walked out into the sunshine and down the street and Watanuki didn't want to talk as she mulled over the reading in her brain. They ended up in a park with a nice little man-made pond near a train station and sat down on a bench together. People walked past the two women and Watanuki, feeling restless after her spiritual encounter, stood up and paced as Yuko thought.

"Say , Yuko," The raven started after a while. "Thanks for taking me there. Sorry I was so skeptical at first." Watanuki put her hand behind her head and scratched nervously. "I mean, she was outstanding, wasn't she?"

"What exactly did you find outstanding?" Yuko interjected, looking up at the seer.

"W-well, without so much as batting an eye, she knew about my father's passing."

"It was an ambiguous statement at best, actually." Wakanuki's eyes widened at the accusation.

"The fortune-teller didn't say your father died, you filled that one in for her. She said 'moved on' and you put it in a context meaning 'passed on.' She gave you a purposely ambiguous word that could mean dead or alive. Don't confuse a prediction with intonation. You understand the difference, don't you?"

"Yeah, but somehow she knew how difficult it was for me growing up!" Watanuki pointed out.

"A simple rationale applied to children who lose their parents. These unfortunates almost always suffer some hardship." _Did she just call me an unfortunate? I don't know whether to be pissed off or depressed by that. _Before Watanuki could think too much into it, Yuko went on. "As for the independent spirit, vigor and being a loner…all characteristics of the Aries star sign. Remember, astrology guides can be purchased at any bookstore."

"She knew I was great with my chores!" Watanuki defended.

"For a girl living on her own, you're remarkably together and have a well-kept appearance." Yuko looked Watanuki up and down, noting her perfectly pressed grey jacket, neat skirt, and shiny shoes. "If you couldn't handle responsibility that wouldn't be the case."

"How could she have seen that I was a wreck over personal relationships?" Watanuki asked, interested more in what Yuko had to say than about defending the fortune-teller anymore.

"Do you think there aren't any girls your age who don't fret about boys and friendships? Its universal." Watanuki didn't have anything to say, her fallen face said it all. "And that applies to her admonishment to be sincere as well, advice easily given and equally valuable to almost anyone."

The wind whipped through the park, lifting Yuko's hair and Watanuki pony tail and skirt in its passing, filling the silence between them.

"When she asked if you had any other concerns, the first thing that popped to mind were those troublesome spirits, no?" Yuko asked.

"That' right." Watanuki voice was small and sad.

"Do you remember the advice she offered?"

"She told me to keep my spirits up."

"In addition to being a poor choice of words, if that was all you needed you would have solved your problem long ago." Yuko sighed when Watanuki didn't say anything, and tipped her head back over the end of the bench. "Truth be told, what you're going thought I doubt that woman could even imagine. Now, if you were having some troubles at school, concerns about love or anything along those lines then her advice would've seemed perfectly reasonable. Wouldn't it?"

"So you're saying that fortune-teller was just a fake?" Watanuki asked, her voice still small and sad.

"No matter the endeavor, if profit can be gleaned somebody will try. I'm afraid that's just human nature." Something shifted in Watanuki's bag. She looked down to see Mokona poking its head out of the zipper and letting its ears flap in the wind. That sparked another hole in the fortune teller's visit.

"Now that you mention it, she did think Mokona was a stuffed toy."

"Mokona's a Mokona!" The fur ball shouted angrily, it's tiny arms in the air. It crossed them in a huff. "Dumb girl!"

"Then I was right before: all this horoscope divination is a complete load of-" Watanuki started before she was interrupted for the third or fourth time that day.

"Don't give up on me just yet." Yuko interjected, standing up. "Now that you can spot the pretenders…" A smile formed on her face. "I'll introduce you to a real fortune-teller." Yuko started walking out of the park and Watanuki followed quickly behind her. They wandered into the streets of a nearby neighborhood, coming to a stop at the crossroads when Yuko decided they had gone far enough. The witch rummaged around in her pockets until she pulled out a yellow handkerchief and held it up unfolded in the palm of her hand.

"Fold it in half," she requested. Watanuki did as she was told with a, "'Kay."

"Once more." Watanuki did so again, the cloth now a long strip in Yuko's hand. The woman knelt down and pulled out her magic circle emblem, resting that on her knees with her hand and the handkerchief on top of that with her other hand face down on top of that. Watanuki heard that strange ringing again from whenever Yuko did her magicy stuff and ribbons of smoke appeared out of nowhere and surrounded her hands. _"Those possessing sight beyond sight there we seek. That which can find them, rise up now and search. Being your journey, fly swift and true!" _The folded handkerchief rose up all by itself and twisted around until it resembled a yellow butterfly and flapped its wings to get flying. Yuko stood up, her magic circle disappearing into her clothes. Watanuki watched the cloth butterfly drift past her in amazement, Mokona leaned out f the bag to watch in wonder too.

"Is that a…?" Watanuki asked, not even finishing her sentence because she was so mesmerized.

"A butterfly? Yes. Which means they're close by." Yuko informed her.

"Fly high, butterfly!~" Mokona sang. Yuko walked after the butterfly and Watanuki followed her, eyes on the sky and hoping she didn't trip while she was distracted by Yuko's magic.

"That handkerchief just turned into a butterfly?" Watanuki asked, still in shock as she followed Yuko down the street. They were tailing the butterfly as it drifted higher and higher in the sky. _Man, if someone looks outside they're going to be in for quite a shock! And we're going to look like idiots too. _

"It would have turned into a bird had its goal been farther away." Yuko stated nonchalantly.

"Wow!" Watanuki breathed. They walked past dozens of houses as the butterfly floated by, turning this was and that way everyone once in a while until the handkerchief was so far ahead of them that once it turned a corner, Yuko and Watanuki both ran to catch up. When they turned the corner, the butterfly was resting on the entryway to a Japanese style house with a little courtyard and garden, much like Yuko's own garden but a lot smaller and more normal-looking. Yuko walked up to the gate and the butterfly unfolded into a regular handkerchief and floated down right into Yuko's hand.

"Well, we found it."

"Um…wait. Here?" Watanuki asked, skeptically looking into the ordinary house.

"Yes."

"There's nothing special about this place. It looks so ordinary." A door suddenly slipped open and a lady walked out in old fashioned zori, almost as if she had been expecting visitors.

"Yuko! I see you've returned!" The lady said. Watanuki leaned over and fixed her glasses, making sure she was seeing this right. It was an old lady dressed in a purple kimono (a normal one, not like Yuko's fancy ones at all) with a green obi and a brown haori over that. She had a huge, gray bun secured behind her head (and it was almost as big as her face). "Welcome back, dear."

"So good to see you, Oba-san!" Yuko bent down to hug the considerably shorter woman with a huge, genuine smile on her face. (1)

"My goodness! You haven't changed a bit! Still as sweet as ever." They stopped hugging each other and the old woman noticed Mokona, walking over. With Watanuki being taller than her, the old woman and the pork bun were at the same height to look each other in the eye. "Well, aren't you a wonder! What's your name?"

"Mokona!" The fur ball replied happily, holding out one of its tiny arms. "Handshake?"

"Mokona, huh?" The old lady mused, shaking hands with Mokona. "Pleased to meet you." She looked up at Watanuki next, her old eyes closed. "My, look at you. So young and living alone."

"But…how?" Watanuki said softly. _How did she know I lived alone when I haven't even said a word to her?_

"This is no place to be standing around gabbing! Let's go inside, have a civilized chat." The old lady led her guests inside her house, all of them taking off their shoes in the entryway.

"Yuko," Watanuki asked once the lady was down the hall and the three of them were alone. "Are you sure you didn't tell her anything about me before we met?" She asked, still skeptical of the whole fortune-telling thing after the last visit they had.

"Wouldn't I have known that she had moved?" The woman replied pointedly.

"I see your point."

"Believe me, she's a real fortune-teller. She'll force you to redefine your limits of what's possible." Yuko said as she started walking down the hall after the lady she called "oba-san." The old lady was waiting for them; still smiling her sweet smile and led the trio into a nice open room with the doors letting in fresh air. They all sat down at the table on blue cushions and had some tea after Yuko took off her jacket and fixe her black tank top. Mokona got a rice cracker as a snack and munched on it noisily as they all got settled.

"Now, why don't you introduce yourself, sweetie?" Oba-san asked, holding her tea so she'd be ready to take a sip. The girl and the fortune-teller were sitting across the table from one another and Yuko was in between them. Mokona just sat wherever the hell it wanted on the table.

"Sure, I'm Kimihiro Watanuki."

"Isn't that a nice name?" The old lady replied happily.

"So is that how you do it?" Watanuki brought both of her fists up triumphantly to her shoulders. "Can you somehow gather divinatory data just by hearing a person's name!?" Now, in retrospect, Watanuki would come to realize that she'd been too eager at the time and just kind of made a fool of herself. But instead of waiting for her to realize this, Oba-san pointed it out right away.

"No, it's just easier to hold a conversation if I know what to call you." She replied with that same sweet smile. Watanuki felt so stupid that she flopped on the table, nearly knocking her tea over and bouncing Mokona in the air.

"Right. I knew that." Watanuki grumbled.

"No need to be hard on yourself. You should be proud of the name your mother gave you." Watanuki sat up in shock. _How…did she know that too? My mother did pick out my name for me! _A bird chirped loudly outside, drawing Oba-san's attention to it.

"Now would you listen to that? Who knows what's gotten into that bird! It's been singing for hours. He was a tad rusty at first but now it's a soothing sound." They finished their tea while listening to the singing bird, the calm atmosphere relaxing and unhurried. Watanuki almost forgot why they were there, she was just so peaceful, but that was until Oba-san got up and left the room, bringing back strange golden basin with sand in it and a pendulum hanging in the center. There was also a scale-like fixture on top of it with a huge purple/blue jewel on top. She set the instrument on top of the table, right in the center and walked over to Watanuki.

"Now, you place your hand here." She lifted up the girl's arm and placed her hand on one end of the scale. She stood up and walked over to the other end of the table to sit in her spot and place her old, wrinkly hand on the other end. Mokona hopped off the table so it wasn't in the way and bounced right over to Yuko's shoulder. The fortune-teller smiled and then closed her eyes, as if she was concentrating and the strange ringing sounded in Watanuki's ears again, smoke floating up from the basin just like before with the handkerchief butterfly. The red pendulum started moving on its own, the pointed tip drawing in the sand as it swung back and forth. That didn't startle Watanuki. Stuff in Yuko's shop always seemed to move around on its own, the spoons getting mixed up with the forks when everyone swore they didn't touch them when Watanuki exploded at their carelessness and clothes would mysteriously appear in other drawers or closets without anyone moving them. A pendulum starting to swing on its own? It was nothing to her.

"Pendulum! Pendulum! Heh, heh!" Mokona sang as it bounced, its ears flapping up and down. Yuko smiled mysteriously.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand the procedure." Watanuki asked, confused at what they were doing. "But shouldn't you ask if I have any questions or need anything predicted?" Oba-san was quiet, not answering the girl's questions.

"She already knows you came here to experience your first divination and that's really all she needs to know." Yuko replied instead, drawing Watanuki's gaze to her. "She'll take an initial reading to find the deepest desires of your heart and then tell you the results that speak to those particular queries. No unnecessary information will be received or given." Watanuki wasn't paying attention, but the pendulum in the basin was drawing an intricate picture in the sand, moving around more like a hand drawing than a pendulum now. Shivers ran up Watanuki's spine, the power in the room affecting her much like Yuko's did. _She's looking into the deepest desires of my heart? What will she find there? I don't even know what I really want, so how can Oba-san see it? _"The whole process might sound simple to you but I can tell you it's a rare gift indeed."

"I'm sure it is, but I'm a little creeped out." The seer replied, her statement holding a lot of weight because she dealt with creepy spirits every day. Yuko gave her an amused smile and then Oba-san opened her deep, lavender eyes.

"Don't be saddened. Your parents are resting quietly and they both are in peace." She said calmly. Watanuki gasped, the surety in the old lady's voice surprising her after her last failed fortune-telling. "There was a terrible accident that resulted in their deaths and they gave up their lives to protect yours." Watanuki stared at her in shock, she hadn't really told anyone about the accident and yet, this old lady knew about it.

Her thoughts wandered for a moment, bringing back memories of a large, grassy field with lots of flowers and a lone tree standing out in the middle of it all. There was laughter, the high, sweet notes of a woman's voice, and low, smooth tones of a man's. Her parents. Watanuki bit her lip, trying to keep the tears out of her eyes as she thought about her dead parents.

"They want you to know that they don't hurt anymore. Anguish no longer plagues them. They only experience peace and happiness, especially seeing that you've become such a wonderful young woman."

"Is that so?" Watanuki asked quietly, her lips turning up into a small smile, a tear she couldn't hold in running down her cheek. "Then, I'm glad." If Watanuki had been looking out of the corner of her eye she wouldn't seen Yuko giving her a comforting smile. And Mokona too, for once. Outside, the sky had gone cloudy and a light rain began to fall, pattering on the roof.

"But wait," Oba-san went on. Watanuki's had snapped up, waiting for bad news (because that's just the way her brain worked, always expecting the worst). "You've seen many strange things which cause turmoil in your soul. A meeting was meant to happen…" The pendulum stopped swinging and lay still. Oba-san nodded. "Yes. I see it clearly. You did not find me by chance. You were brought here." Watanuki looked down into the basin where the old lady was looking and saw that a butterfly had been drawn into the sand. "The butterfly is a powerful omen that marks a journey, one that always ends in a transformation. The metamorphosis has already begun." Oba-san paused. "I also see that there is a boy at school who you find irresistible." She smiled knowingly.

"Yes!" Watanuki answered, excited to see if she'd get some magical secret to make Wari like her!

"Be patient. The best way of deciphering your future is to let it occur."

"Let it?" Watanuki came down off her high, slightly disappointed that she didn't get any secrets of the universe to snag Wari.

"You have a friend with whom you fight a lot , but he is an important asset to you." _Damn that Doumeki! Always butting into things that concern Wari…even when he's not here! _"From this day forward, your relationship will deepen."

"No way!" Watanuki pulled back in disgust. "Yuck!" _I can barely tolerate him as it is! I don't want that jerk getting any closer to me! _

"This is all you wanted to ask, yes?" Oba-san's hand came off the scale and she smiled cheerfully. _Crap! Did my deepest desires really have Doumeki in them!? How embarrassing! _Watanuki scowled until Yuko yanked her out of her thoughts.

"See? I told you she was the real deal!" Yuko said, putting her hand up by her mouth coyly. "And she doesn't even ask for anything in return!" Watanuki

"Thank you, ma'am. I really do appreciate your kindness, but I really feel as it I should pay you!" Watanuki put her hands on the table and smiled at the fortune teller, nearly bowing in gratitude.

"Since you are skilled at cooking…why don't you make us something to eat?" The old lady suggested with a sly smile of her own. Mokona hopped down from Yuko's shoulder and jumped into the bag to yank out the sake and hold it up high for all to see.

"We brought sake!" Yuko clapped her hands together happily.

"Well, I'm not sure my cooking is worthy of you…" Watanuki said, biting her lip in inadequacy. _She's amazing! How can my measly cooking skills match up to the peace of mind and clarity that she's given me?_

"Nonsense. A meal made from the heart is a treasure anyone would welcome." She smiled wider. "And if you want to be as good of a cook as your father you need to practice!"

"Yeah, right!" Watanuki smiled back, the old woman soothing all her doubts. "I'll cook something fantastic!" She stood up and opened the door to head to the kitchen.

"Mokona's helping!~" The fur ball said from the girl's shoulder.

"You're not going to help! You're going to snack!" Watanuki teased. "The kitchen's this way, right?" She padded down the hallway and Mokona yanked on her ear. "Ow!"

"No, this way!"

"Geez! Don't yank so hard! You could've just pointed!" Watanuki snapped turning around and running into the kitchen. Back in the room, Oba-san was looking at the sand drawing.

"The butterfly…that's your signature. Isn't it, Yuko?" The old woman looked up to a wood hanging perched on the wall. It had a paper attached to it with a poem on it, the small butterfly signature resting in the corner. The old lady could hear Watanuki working in the kitchen and smiled. "Your guidance has set Watanuki on a path that will untimely transform her destiny. I look forward to the end result."

"Me too." Yuko answered sincerely. "Tell me: what's the forecast for tonight."

"Scattered showers. But don't worry, they'll be gone by the time you leave." Oba-san picked up the basin and went to put it away, giving Yuko a smile. The shop owner smiled back.

"Good! That means that we can't leave until they stop! Which means food and more sake!" The two women shared a chuckle and a short time later Watanuki had dinner all ready. The four of them ate and drank together, happily sharing each other's company with only a few outbursts when Mokona snagged food off of Watanuki's plate much like Doumeki did and the seer yelled at the pork bun. They left the fortune-teller's house late in the evening, the rain stopping just before they left. Watanuki avoided moonlit filled puddles as she walked down the street with Yuko and the witch deliberately stepped into puddles.

"I kind of wish she would've told me more!" The girl said happily, still in awe of her reading. "Especially news about Wari! That would've been awesome!"

"But that's not allowed." Yuko stopped walking, and leaned over to look back at Watanuki.

"Now allowed? But she's a fortune-teller!" The girl complained. Her hands came up to make finger glasses over her real glasses dramatically. "But she can see everything!"

"Is that so?" Yuko asked coyly. "Fortune-telling is not a conduit into some preordained biography. It's a fragile give-and-take sort of bond between a seer and that which would be seen." Yuko plopped her hand on her hip all-knowingly. "Diviners are powerful, but limited. Not every question has one true answer. That is true and must be accepted for all matter of life." Watanuki held her bag close to her as she listened; making sure Mokona didn't fall out while it was nodding off. "There are those who'd say otherwise and lie about what they can't see or pretend to have abilities that they don't. At the very least, they'd make the rest of us look bad."

Watanuki thought about the first fortune-teller, the one who faked her way through the reading and she frowned.

"Any prediction true or false should not be made lightly. It can still alter a person's path, so it's more than rude. It's dangerous." Yuko looked up at the moon, the last of the rain clouds blowing across the sky. "Just as it is dangerous for those with the true gift to alter their path by self-divination." A single drop of rain slipped off a leaf and plopped into a puddle, disturbing the seriousness of the moment. "And lesson's over…time for more sake!" Yuko turned around and clapped her hands together, a happy blush appearing on her cheeks.

"Wait just a minute!" Watanuki shouted, pointing an angry finger in the air. "You've already been drinking so let's talk more about divination, alright!?" Yuko tossed her purse around and sauntered down the street.

"How about if I predict what will happen to the person who stands in the way of me and my next drink?" She threatened teasingly.

"Do you have to be so aggressive about it?!" Watanuki asked, running after her tipsy boss. Two butterflies fluttered past her as she ran by.

"Yes, and I'm hungry. I expect dinner when I get back!~"

"DINNER?! We just ate!" Watanuki complained. "I didn't have seconds because _you_ ate my seconds!" Yuko just laughed and ran down the street, a trailing Watanuki running to catch up.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Watanuki really, really didn't want to be here right now. She was sitting with Wari (which was _never _a bad thing) in the front row of the bleachers in the archery range. They were watching Doumeki compete and as much fun as it seemed at first to just hang out with Wari, Watanuki really didn't want to be hanging out with Wari while watching _Doumeki _impress everybody. Especially Wari.

Doumeki was standing at the far end of the range, dressed in the archery club's uniform of back hamaka and a white kimono top and white tabi on his feet. His bow was already stretched with his first arrow, left hand gripping the belly of the bow and his right, bandaged arm pulling back the bowstring with the arrow already notched in and holding his second arrow for the next use. Watanuki could hear the tension and strain on the bowstring from all the way in the stands, but Doumeki's hold puls the added grip from his glove didn't give the string a change to eject the arrow until he was ready to release. The archer aimed carefully, his deep eyes narrowing at the target and he released his arrow. It whizzed past, the whole crowd following the movement with their heads as it thunked into the first thick ring of black, missing the bullseye by a small margin. The crowd sighed in that strange pity/disappointment way and Watanuki frowned, watching Doumeki line up his next shot, unfazed by the looks of it. He just stood there, the bow tucked up onto his hip, his other hand resting on the opposite side with the arrow clutched in his hand, face more serious than usual. _He's like the paragon of masculinity right now, all proud and standing tall, imposing. What a show off! _Watanuki grumbled to herself as Doumeki concentrated on his next shot.

"Even with his right arm injured like that, Doumeki's still an amazing shot!" Wari said to Watanuki, leaning forward in his seat to get a better look. Watanuki looked at the wrap of bandages around Doumeki's right elbow and felt a slight guilt at have being the cause of the injury. Not that Doumeki blamed her for it, but she still felt bad. Even if it was the spirits who'd pushed her off her roof. Doumeki could've just let her fall and die instead of catching her (for which the seer was, begrudgingly, grateful for).

"You really think so? Personally, I think it was just luck." Watanuki said skeptically, trying to push Doumeki down even just a little bit in the eyes of her crush. Apparently, it didn't work.

"Oh come on, Watanuki!" The curly-haired boy started teasingly. "Weren't you the one that suggested that we come out to the competition to support Doumeki?"

"No! I mean, of course I support Doumeki," Watanuki held her hands up in her defense. "It's just that that was a one-in-a-million shot that he made!" Watanuki slumped in her seat when Wari turned back to watch Doumeki. Watanuki clutched at the fabric of her skirt in frustration. "Really, I only came because I promised to bring him lunch every day. I guess I owe him because it's my fault he hurt his arm and all but I didn't want to come alone – because the I would look like I was here for my _boyfriend_ and Doumeki is definitely _not_ my boyfriend! – and it seemed like a great excuse to see Wari on a weekend." She muttered to herself.

"Did you say something?" Wari asked, turning his curly head in the girl's direction.

"Oh! It was nothing! Really!" Watanuki flashed a smile. _Though I really and starting to wish that I hadn't asked him to come. Doumeki's archery skills are impressing him a little too much. _(Watanuki was still under the impression that Wari like Doumeki in _that _way. Dumb girl.) Doumeki was finally ready to shoot and notched his last arrow, pulling the bow up and then out, the string protesting as it was yanked back. His eyes narrowed in concentration, the only movement on his face that changed from its normal stone wall. Doumeki let go, the arrow flying right into the bullseye as the crowd erupted into cheers. Wari was yelling pretty loudly for his friend and Watanuki pretended like she was yelling but was really just stewing that Doumeki had mostly likely, probably won. And he did.

"Wow! Congratulations, Doumeki!" Wari praised the archer once they were all outside in their school uniforms with Doumeki holding his trophy. It even said, "20th Mayoral Archery Competition Championship, 1st Place" on it or something like that. _It's probably going to end up in his room next to all his other, perfect trophies of his accomplishments, _Watanuki complained in her head.

"Thanks." The boy accepted the compliment.

"Maybe you should be thanking me because I'm the one who brought your fan club with me,-who apparently can't stop gushing over you –and your lunch, big stupid jerk!" Watanuki grumbled lowly.

"I'm sorry, did you say something?" Doumeki turned to a fuming Watanuki.

"Oh, just forget about it!" She snapped and turned away in a huff. Doumeki reached into his bag and pulled out a broken fletching. Its feathers were striped black and white and Doumeki decided to put it in Watanuki's bag.

"Hey, why don't you keep this as a memento." He held it up before dropping it in Watanuki's stuff. "Here."

"What was that for?!" The girl freaked out, rummaging around the bag for the fletching.

"It's just a little present." Doumeki said calmly.

"Thanks but I don't have any use for a broken arrow!" Watanuki snagged the fletching and angrily placed in on Doumeki's head. Wari laughed at their antics.

"You guys are really adorable when you pretend to fight like this! It's almost like you're a couple!" Wari's girlish speech hit a nerve in Watanuki and she immediately jumped to squash the notion of her and _Doumeki_ being a couple.

"Ug, this was a mistake." The seer grumbled after she'd smacked Wari's comment down. She glared at Doumeki, who somehow made wearing an arrow on his head look cool. _Stupid, dumbass, jerk! _

"Oi, Watanuki." Doumeki poked the girl.

"What?!" She growled, not even turning to look.

"You're skirt's been folded up sit we walked out. The pink and white stripes are cute." Doumeki teased, his face still emotionless. But there was a twinkle in his eye. Watanuki flipped out, yanking down her skirt. While she wasn't looking, Doumeki slipped the fletching back into the girl's bag, genuinely wanting her to have it.

"Why didn't you say something sooner, you pervert!" She hissed, holding down her skirt.

"Because it was funny."

"It is not funny!"

"You guys are priceless!" Wari laughed again and Watanuki sighed.

"This was a huge mistake." Watanuki left soon after being teased by Doumeki and walked to Yuko's shop as the sun began to set. It got dark really fast, darkening the girl's mood just as much as she walked alone. "And now I'm running late for work and it wasn't even worth it!" She started thinking about dinner because Yuko was bound to be hungry. "Now what can I make for dinner that's quick? I could do pasta, but we just had that last night and Yuko's probably going to want something fancy and complicated. Shit! What am I going to do?" Watanuki stopped dead in her tracks as the most delicious smell wafted across her way. She sniffed for a long time, trying to savor the smell in all its glory, her mouth curving up into a cat's mouth. "What am I smelling? Whatever it is, it smells fantastic!"

The raven walked down the street with her nose leading, her butt and legs following behind the rest of her. She looked like a dork. The girl didn't even notice when the street faded away, replaced by an in-between world made up of purple-pink smoke and a brightly lit yatai just sitting in the middle of it all.(3 &amp; 4) Watanuki rubbed her glasses and looked again. The food cart had a cheerful red lantern hanging in the front and a bench with purple curtains for customers to sit behind. Watanuki sighed as her nose was assaulted with the delicious smell of food again.

"I think I'll just give it a little taste test. And if it's good enough, it can be tonight's dinner! Now that's an idea!" Just was Watanuki was pulling back the curtain to sit down, she spotted a movement from the corner of her eye and looked down. There was an anthropomorphic fox looking up at her, dressed in a blue striped kimono and apron with little sandals and it was carrying dishes. Its fur was golden colored and its ears took up at least half of its head area and the girl and fox just stared at each other for a moment, the snapping and boiling food in the cart filling the silence. Then all hell broke loose.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Both girl and fox jumped away from each other, bags and dishes flying everywhere as they freaked out. The fox tripped, throwing its dishes in the air and gasped as they began to fall. Watanuki leapt into action, her pride as a cook on the line where dishes were concerned and skid on the ground to catch the first dish in her outstretched hand, the caught the other too with her feet that were in the air. _Maybe I should join the circus, that would be a good profession or someone with a weird talent like this. _Watanuki smiled triumphantly and then notice the little fox again, this time hiding behind the cart and looking at her.

"There's really no denying it…that's a fox!" She said, blinking her eyes again and again. "But it's standing on two legs and wearing clothes!

"Well, well. What do we have here? Is it a human customer? Very unusual indeed." Watanuki nearly dropped the dishes as a larger, glasses wearing fox peek its head out of the food cart and started _talking_ to her. She did however, clutch the dishes to her chest for dear life and nearly screamed again.

"Oh my god! There's another one! And this one's bigger and talks!" She whimpered.

"My dear girl," The larger fox started. "A talking fox is no more special than a talking human. Now please, so come in." Watanuki picked herself up off the ground and sat down on the bench. She kept looking at the chief fox, mulling over the fact it could talk and wore clothes _and _cooked as it prepared her a meal.

"I'm sorry," She apologized beforehand just so that her pointed questions wouldn't seem so rude. "But you are a real fox, aren't you? You're not wearing a mask or anything like that, right?" Just glasses-wearing, chef fox just laughed.

"No, I assure you. What you see is what you get. I am a genuine fox." Watanuki laughed.

"Of course you are!" She agreed nervously. The fox poked at the food to move it around and then straightened its blue scarf.

"Our little shop has been here for a long time and we almost never get human customers, especially ones that are as young as you are."

"As young as me?" Watanuki asked curiously.

"Your youth makes your presence here surprising. You must possess a considerable power for a girl your age." Watanuki kept watching the fox mouth move (and by extension the whiskers) while human words came out.

"You can tell something like that just from looking at me?"

"I can tell just because you came here. If there wasn't something special about you, you wouldn't be able to even see our shop." The fox set a dish of oden in front of her. "Here you go. Now please, enjoy. Hope you like it!" Watanuki smiled, broke her chopsticks apart and took a bite. Paradise exploded on her tongue and she moaned in satisfaction.

"Oh wow!" Watanuki shoved another two bites into her mouth in quick succession. "This oden is really delicious!"

"Oh, so you liked it? That's really good to hear!" The big fox said as it cleaned up some other dishes.

"I've never had a stew like this! You really need to give me your recipe!" Watanuki took another bite.

"I don't know what that would do, really. It's a fox-made dish. It isn't the same prepared by humans no matter how do the chef." The little fox peeked around the counter, its little paws gripping the wood.

"I'm sorry about before, you startled me." Watanuki apologized to the little fox. It shook its head shyly.

"Me too." The little fox peeked into Watanuki's bag and locked its eyes on something.

"Sorry, it seems my little one has found something interesting in your bag." The big oden fox apologized. The little fox sprang back in embarrassment, his tail poofing up as he gasped.

"I can't think of anything that would be of interest to him in there," Watanuki said, thinking about what she had in the bag. "Let me see…we already finished all the snacks I packed…" Watanuki looked inside and saw Doumeki's fletching nestled next to the bento boxes. "Uh! When did he put this in here!?" She scoffed at the archer's instance and annoying gestures and pulled out the feathers. "I told him not to treat my bag as some kind of trash bag!" The girl shouted, her teeth pointed in anger. She looked down and saw the little fox's tail wagging as it looked at the fletching in her hand. "Is this the thing?" She asked.

"Uh huh." The little fox blushed and twiddled its paws.

"You can have it." Watanuki held out her palm with the fletching to the little fox. The fox smiled.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course! Here, take it." Watanuki placed it in the little fox's paws and he held it close to him.

"Oh wow! Thank you so much!" The little fox rubbed his face against the fletching, liking his new toy. Watanuki smiled, happy to have made the little fox happy and happy that she'd gotten rid of Doumeki's "gift."

"It's no big deal." The little fox giggled and ran off with his prize, kneeling down at a small chest that appeared out of nowhere.

"Please, excuse him for the intrusion." The big oden fox asked.

"Don't worry about it! I didn't think of it as an intrusion at all!" Watanuki smiled wider. "Besides, I think he'll get more enjoyment out of it than I would." The big oden fox looked at his child.

"My little one takes great pride in his collection of unusual objects." The little fox was holding the fletching up to the light and then placed it in the chest with some other objects, like blue marbles, a cloth bag filled with something and a butterfly and flower case.

"Well then," The big oden fox drew the raven's attention again. "How about we let the feathers serve as payment for your oden tonight."

"Oh no!" Watanuki shoved her hands into her pockets, looking for her wallet. "I've got some cash in here."

"Please, don't." The oden fox held up his paw. Watanuki looked up at his curious request. "The object you just gave him has a power of its own. It conceals a spiritual energy that drives away evil."

"Hm. You mean that arrow?" Watanuki asked, confused. The big fox nodded.

"It may just look like a broken arrow, but it's actually a powerful tool to ward off spirits, I don't know how you came to possess it but there is no doubt that it is a very special object. When you think about it that way, it's really we who owe you for this gift."

"Hm." Watanuki sat down again.

"You know, your skirt has been flipped up this whole time. I like the pink stripes." The little oden fox said, pulling on Watanuki sleeve. Watanuki looked back in horror, seeing her skirt tucked up and her underwear on display for the second time that day.

"Why didn't you say something sooner!?" The seer panicked, yanking down her skirt…_again_. The little oden fox ran away from the squealing girl laughing cheerfully.

"Besides, having such a rare human guest today has been a treat. It's been exceedingly enjoyable for me!" The big fox laughed at the girl and put a set of wrapped containers in front of the girl. "Please take this a gift of my gratitude."

"Oh no!" The sight of wrapped food reminded Watanuki of her job and of a grumpy Yuko she was bound to find in the shop when she got there. "I almost forgot that I was supposed to cook dinner tonight!" The girl grabbed her hair with both hands and freaked out. "I am so late already!"

"Please tell Yuko I enjoyed our meeting." The little fox ran up to his father and they both bowed towards a surprised Watanuki, who was just reminded about how far reaching Yuko's name actually went. Watanuki blinked and found herself back out of the street, standing under a lamp with her bag and the food in her arms. She looked left and right to see if she could spot the shop, but it was gone now.

"Huh. Could that have been some kind of dream?" She asked as a dog howled in the night. She looked down and say the food containers in her hand, the purple cloth embroidered with a single, red crescent moon. "I guess not." Watanuki shrugged and started walking to work again, her mood getting more and more guilt ridden as she approached the shop. She stepped into the courtyard, took off her shoes before making her way down the hall. Yuko was in her receiving room, lazing about on her couch in a red kimono with Maru and Moro lying all over one armrest watching her. Of course, the witch's pipe was in her hand, its smoke drifting into the air with each puff.

"Hey! Watanuki's here!" Mokona popped up, its sharp ears picking up the girl's quiet footsteps. Yuko glanced back, her face unreadable.

"I'm so sorry, Yuko!" Watanuki began as she slid the door open, but she was cut off by Yuko's cry for food.

"Sooooooo huuuuunnngggrrryyy!" The witch flopped over onto the armrest of the couch in the most dramatic fashion and wailed. "Need to eat!"

"I know I'm late! Forgive me!" Watanuki held up the oden fox's wrapped containers, half as and offering and half as wall of same to cover her face. Yuko's eyes widened as she saw the wrapping cloth, her body instantly becoming alert.

"I recognize the design on that bag!" She squealed, and clasped her hands together. "You brought fox oden!" She cooed, a happy blush on her cheeks.

"Uh, yeah." Watanuki replied, a little confused. "So…you remember meeting the foxes?"

"Of course I do!" Yuko said, leaning back on her couch. "Once you taste their oden nothing is ever quite as good again." Watanuki didn't know whether to be offended by that remark with her pride as a chef on the line, but she had tasted how good the fox's stew was and couldn't deny that Yuko's statement had some truth to it. Thankfully, she didn't have time to respond.

"Fox oden! Fox oden!~" Maru and Moro sang. Something tapped Watanuki's ankle.

"Hey!" The seer looked down and Mokona waved its tiny arm at her. "We need dishes!" It commanded.

"I'm not taking orders from you! You-you…cream puff thing!" Watanuki growled, her teeth pointed and eyes furious. Yuko snatched the food out of Watanuki's hands and stood up.

"We'll need you warm up some sake as well!" She blushed again and nuzzled the wrapped bento boxes as she pointed at her slave. "And just for good measure: let's open a nice fat bottle of plum wine!" Maru, Moro, Mokona and Yuko all danced away from the girl, the witch holding up the good like it was an offering from the gods.

"Stew and sake!~ Stew and sake!~ Stew and sake!~" Maru and Moro sang as Yuko and Mokona laughed. Watanuki grabbed her smoke that always seemed to be near Yuko and thrust her hands through the sleeves. She knew when she was beaten.

"I'm going already!" She snapped. An hour of two later after most of the oden was eaten; Yuko was looking up at the nearly full moon from the porch, smiling with a fat Mokona next to her. She looked down at the pile of sake bottles littered around her and picked one up, shaking it. When she didn't hear any sloshing, she frowned and yelled out to Watanuki.

"Watanuki! What's taking so long!?" She asked, grumpy that her sake wasn't here yet.

"I'm coming! I'm coming! Geez!" Watanuki ran up in her little smock and set down a tray with three new bottles of warmed sake and Yuko clapped her hands delightedly.

"Oh yay! At last!" She snagged a new bottle and tipped it into her cup, downing the portion in one gulp. Watanuki's shoulders slumped, a frown appearing on her face now.

"That's just great." She said, kneeling down. "You've nearly drank your weight in sake! Which means you're probably going to have a hangover in the morning again. Please take some aspirin and drink water." As she talked, Watanuki had the suspicion that she was being ignored.

"Ooo! Look at that!" _I was being ignored! _"We certainly have a beautiful moon tonight! And tomorrow is going to be a full, isn't it?" She asked out loud, looking down at her drinking companion.

"Moon viewing party!~" Mokona answered, holding up its sake cup.

"Yes, that's right!" Yuko smiled her Watanuki's-going-to-have-a-lot-of-work smile. "And to properly prepare for that…we'll need a pre-celebration tonight!" Yuko hoisted her glass into the air, dashing the hopes of her employee's smile of a party. "Let's get some coffee going! The night isn't nearly over yet!"

"Yay!~" Mokon jumped into the air. Watanuki's face fell, the prospect of more work causing her to turn blue.

"Noooooooo!" The seer wailed.

"Now! Let's watch the sun come up!" Yuko suggested.

"Some of us have to get up early tomorrow!" Watanuki retorted.

"Come on!~ Don't be such a wuss!" Mokona teased.

"I'm just responsible, okay?!"

"Watanuki, dear! We're running out of snacks. Why don't you go into the kitchen and see what you can whip up?" Yuko suggested sweetly.

"Mokona's hungry! Feed me!" The fur ball agreed.

"Ug." Watanuki groaned in defeat. "This is going to be the longest night _ever_."

When the morning finally rolled around, Yuko was still sitting on the porch, only having left to go to the bathroom once and change her clothes. She was now dressed in a Japanese influenced white, ruffled robe with an outside corset in purple laced up across her belly and under her boobs, with matching wrist sheaves. Her long, glorious hair was mostly left down, only a portion of it pulled into a bun on top of her head with a long, gold tassel hair piece hanging down her back. She picked up her tea cup, sipping green tea in the morning light as the birds chirped and munched on some snack Watanuki had left as the sun rose higher in the sky. The only sound out of place that morning was the loud, obnoxious snoring of Mokona (who was passed out on the porch next to its mistress), but Yuko didn't mind.

"My favorite day of the month, the night of the full moon." Her voice woke up Mokona, who hiccupped in a drunk fashioned and tottled over to the witch. "And we know what that means, right?"

"Moon viewing party?" It asked happily, jumping up and down.

"Of course!" The woman smiled deviously. "Watanuki's going to have to get started early because we only want the best snacks, right?"

"Moon viewing party!~ Moon viewing party!~ Time to party! Mokona's ready! Moon viewing party!~" The pork bun tipped from one foot to another cheerfully, its ears flapping this way and that before it ran off. Yuko set down her steaming cup, and enjoyed the morning.

"One other thing first though…." But she really didn't around to finishing her thought because at that moment, Mokona jumped on a sleeping Watanuki (who had some of her longish hair caught in her mouth, drooling all over her pillow and completely a mess after having stayed up most of the night – very attractive) and woke the exhausted girl up.

"WHO DISTURBS MY SLUMBER!?" She yelled, the perfect imitation of a grumpy dragon sleeping on nails and having been kept up most of the night. The whole shop shook with the force of her yelled and Maru and Moro started from their own sleep with a squeal and then started giggling as Watanuki chased Mokona around in her underwear and bra (still pink and white striped, a matching set and the girl hadn't known she would end up staying the night). Yuko laughed at the loud morning, the birds all scattering as Watanuki went on her path of destruction (with Maru and Moro prancing behind her) trying to stomp on the slippery fur ball that had woken her up. After twenty minutes of that Watanuki suddenly collapsed, her exhausting causing her to fall to the floor and slid right into a bookcase, topping over shelves of tomes. When they fell on her, she didn't even react, her sleep uninterrupted again for another hour before Yuko sicced Mokona on her again so the girl to make breakfast, lunches and get to school on time.

The day was long and sleepy, and Watanuki barely had any retorts for Doumeki when he teased her sleepy ass and she only had a slightly more energetic appearance for Wari, who tried to keep the girl awake in class and at lunch. Unfortunately, Watanuki dozed off in all her classes, got called for it on multiple occasions and fell asleep during lunch. (Doumeki ended up eating all of Watanuki's bento as well as his and the girl was too discombobulated to even notice). By the time she got back to Yuko's shop, the seer was wide awake (having caught up on her sleep in school) and ready for Yuko to order her around. Which she did. While the girl was making snacks, Yuko was in the dining room tying up a package with the wrapping cloth Watanuki had gotten from the foxes. Watanuki left the kitchen from where she had been preparing dinner and snacks for the moon viewing party and swished in with her smock and a tray of appetizers.

"I outdid myself!" She walked into the dining room and set the tray on the table. "Are you ready for the first course?"

"Yes, thank you." Yuko replied, finishing up tying her package.

"Hey, Yuko…what are you doing with that?" The raven asked, looking at the package.

"I have a little errand I need you to take care of for me right now."

"Errrrand!~ Errand!~" The twins sang.

"That's alright with me, I guess. Where do you need me to go?" The girl asked curiously.

"Where you were last night – the foxes' shop." Yuko packed the package in the girl's arms and she held it carefully.

"Oh, I understand. You want me to take back the containers they gave us for the stew last night, right?"

"And also…take this." Yuko pointed to a small purple/grey backpack with little white wings on it. It was a little girl's backpack.

"Huh? A backpack?" The girl observed. "What possible use could they have for something like that?" Yuko chuckled, patting the backpack a few times.

"Actually, this is for your protection."

"Why would I need any protection?" Yuko's smiled disappeared.

"Because tonight is the night of the full moon." She said ominously. _Isn't that why we're having a party? What's wrong this time?_

"Alright…so is that going to be a problem?" Watanuki asked, apprehensive about her task now.

"I can't say for certain if you're going to have trouble, but you're going to want to be careful. You know how easy it is for you to attract spirits on a normal night." Watanuki frowned at her words. "Well, tonight is anything but normal. Not only is it a full moon, but it's a full moon on Friday the thirteenth. With the combining of the two events, not even I can know for sure what events will unfold around you." Watanuki's face dropped into her worried/panicked mode, her eyebrows pinched together and her frown deepening. And then she got it.

"Oh I get it! You're just trying to scare me!" Watanuki held up her hand and waved Yuko's warning off. "Well, very funny."

"You can think that, but just remember to keep the backpack with you at all times tonight." Yuko stood up, her robes cascading into place. "It's contents will help you a lot."

"R-right." Watanuki really didn't know now if Yuko was joking or not but she took the backpack and containers with her as she took off her smock and hair wrap and put on her shoes. Once outside, Yuko's strange warning echoed in her head and Watanuki jumped at every little sound, scared that something might actually pop out at her.

"It's really not nice for her to mess with me like that." Watanuki said confidently, trying to shake off her fear as her footsteps clicked into the quiet night. The full moon lit her path, the shadows looking even deeper and more foreboding than before. "Besides, if it was really that dangerous, she could've had me run this little errand on another night!" Watanuki shrugged her shoulders to disperse the weight of the winged backpack strapped to her. It was heavier than in looked. Watanuki looked up and stopped in her tracks.

The air got heavy, presences around her shifting and moving, getting darker and more sinister. She watched the shadows, the long reach of the telephone pole's darkness reaching out to her. The moonlight made everything brighter in than instant, but it also made the darkness even blacker. The shadows were pointing towards her, lying on the street like hands. Watanuki gasped, her voice rising in pitch as she almost stopped breathing. She nearly whimpered but held it in, trying to convince herself that nothing was wrong. But something was.

"I'm just seeing things," She whispered, her voice wavering. She looked down again. The telephone poles' shadows were stewing, their outlines undulating and rippling. _That's not good…not good! _The shadows were getting longer, reaching, crawling towards her own. The shadow erupted, the spirit concealed inside leaping out over Watanuki's head. She ducked. "Or maybe not!"

She ran. Turning a corner and dashing down another street, Watanuki could feel the spirit wheel around and follow her, its rotten fish and dead animal smell coming after her. She kept running, her fear pushing her faster and faster. She really didn't want to get eaten or possessed or any other number of unpleasant things, so she sprinted, not really knowing where she was supposed to go.

"I'm starting to understand what Yuko was talking about!" The seer admitted running even faster as more and more spirits joined the parade behind her. The girl glanced back at the spirits and noticed a small white wing. "Oh yeah! The backpack! She told me to use it!" Watanuki slung it off her shoulders, careful not to damage the containers she was carrying in the process and unzipped the bag. The girl got her hopes up that she would be protected when a familiar, annoying face popped out of the bag and waved.

"Hey!~ Hope you're ready, Watanuki, because we're going to play the alphabet game!" Mokona cheered. (5)

"Why are you here?!" She growled, getting right in the fur ball's face. It ignored her.

"Alright! I'm starting!"

"Huh?!" Watanuki kept running the spirits behind her getting just a little bit closer as she was distracted.

"Category: fruits and vegetables!" The creature picked. "First word: apple!"

"What?!" Watanuki was still confused.

"That means you, Watanuki!" Mokona's eyes got huge, the almost shapes revealing black eyes to match its soul. "Would you hurry up!?" The spirits got closer and both of them nearly lost it. Watanuki screamed as she looked back. "Come on! An E!"

"Uh…E, okay! Uh…eggplant!" She answered. A bright light flashed behind Watanuki as the first spirit lit up and disappeared.

"Good! Turnip!" Mokona went on.

"P…uh, plum!" Another flash. Watanuki was breathing heavy from running for so long.

"Mango!"

"So that's an O?" She asked.

"Yes, an O! Hurry!" The spirits were getting closer again.

"Er…okra!"

"Avacado!"

"Another O already?! I just did one of those!" Watanuki growled, wracking her brain for another O food.

"Quit whining!" Mokona ordered in its usual annoying tone.

"That's it! I'm changing the category! Animals!" Another flash.

"Camel!"

"Uh…" Watanuki felt a spirit brush her flying pony tail. "Lemur!"

"Rat!" Mokona shouted.

"Tiger!" Watanuki passed back.

"Rattlesnake!"

"E-eagle!"

"Elephant!"

"Trout!"

"Tortoise!"

"Ah! There are no more!" Watanuki shouted, her brain tired from running, dodging spirits, navigating the streets and trying to play a game at the same time.

"You have to hurry, Watanuki! There's a really mean-looking spirit behind you!" Mokona warned.

"Ug! I'm not good at this game!" The huge spirit flew closer, nearly overtaking the girl as she ran. "Eeeee!" Watanuki jumped at the spirit made a grab for her and then slid into the splits to about it, dropping the package she was carrying. The spirit brushed the wrapping and a light blue flash emanated from the package. "What the hell?! Why did it go after the package?"

"You have to think fast! It's coming for us!" Mokona shouted from its backpack. The spirit snaked closer, its three red eyes glaring at Watanuki.

"Uh…eel!"

"Llama!" Mokona shouted, getting the game back on track as Watanuki scooped up the package and started running again.

"Anteater!" Another flash.

"Raven!"

"Nematode!"

"Ooo! Points for creativity! Dolphin!"

"Not another N!" Watanuki complained.

"Concentrate!" Mokona ordered.

"I _know_! I'm _trying_! Nightingale!" Another flash.

"Earthworm!"

"Walrus!" (6)

"Sasquatch!"

"Sasquatch?! That's not a real animal!" Watanuki hissed.

"Just keep going!" Mokona encouraged.

"So – and H then? Uh…hedgehog!"

"Platypus?! What are you talking about?! We were on G's not S's!" Watanuki's head shot up, thinking about what she'd just said. "Oh, I guess that's not right either – now see what you've done?! You've gone and made me lose my train of thought! Now I don't even remember what letter I'm on!"

"Quit whining! Just hurry and pick an animal already!" Mokona wasn't even keeping score now and that was saying a lot. How much trouble they were in, that's what it was saying.

"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know!" Watanuki chanted, trying to get her head back in the game but she couldn't, she was to scattered brained. The spirit got closer, surrounding the girl's body, shadowing her face and almost swallowing her as she ran. "SALAMADER!" She shouted in a last ditch effort not to get eaten. The spirit vanished into light and Watanuki whooped in triumph. "I knew I could think of one!" She gloated to the fur ball in the bag. "And now you have another R to do!" Mokona folded its arms triumphantly as the girl smiled.

"No! Look!" Watanuki skidded to a halt and looked forward. The oden stand was right in front of her, surrounded by its bluish/purplish barrier, the night calm and peaceful now that the spirits were gone. The father fox was fixing the blue curtains of his stand and turned to see Watanuki walking towards him.

"Well, look at that! Our customer from yesterday has come to visit us." The big oden fox smiled, brushing off his blue apron.

"Hey!" The little oden fox ran up to his father and smiled at Watanuki as well. "It's Ms. Feather!"

"I'm sorry," Watanuki apologized. "We were delayed by some angry spirits."

"Not surprising," The big oden fox nodded. "It's dangerous out tonight."

"Yo! It's been a while!" Mokona waved at the foxes, lounging from the backpack Watanuki was holding.

"Oh, Mokona! It's always good to see you." Both foxes bowed in greeting to the fur ball.

"You seem pleased with yourself!" Watanuki hissed, getting into Mokona's face again, teeth pointed and ready to snap.

"We made it here all because of me!" Mokona smiled smugly.

"It was just a dumb game!" Watanuki retorted.

"The game of letters?" The big fox asked. "That ancient game is a good defense on a night like tonight." He crossed his arms. "Well done. Good thinking."

"What?" Watanuki asked, her eyes going wide that the fox agreed with Mokona. "You mean that game saved us?"

"Of course. It's used by travelers when journeying at night or dangerous places. It creates a barrier of fun to keep certain evils from interfering. _So that's what was going on! _Watanuki felt a little guilty now.

"I didn't realize that." She said to Mokona. The rabbit-creature just hopped in its bag.

"Maybe next time when we're in trouble you'll just shut up and trust me, Watanuki!" It huffed.

"Well, maybe next time you could stop and explain what's going on!" Watanuki got all riled up again and was about to smack Mokona when she realized that the hand she was going to use was already occupied. "Oh! The containers! I forgot about them!" The raven's anger disappeared as she handed the package over to the oden fox. "Would you mind checking to see if the containers were broken on our way here?" The fox took the wrap and set it down on the counter, untying the cloth to reveal an empty birdcage with a perch in it. Watanuki gasped in surprise.

"A birdcage? There's not even anything in it!" She leaned over to look closer.

"Oh yes! This is a pair of Moonlight Birds," The father fox explained. "They're a special species who's silhouette can only be seen during the full moon." Watanuki heard chirping and looked down at the counter, the shadow of the cage now holding two small birds while the actual cage still seemed to be empty. "Some people call them Phantom Birds. We were able to see them the last time we were at Yuko's home and I was fascinated. They're very rare and I've never seen a pair before." Watanuki looked the fox and he looked at her through his slitted eyes. "Yuko must've remember that I asked if I could care for them someday. That's very kind of her." They both looked down at the remarkable birds. One of the birds flapped its wings, the feathers oddly separated instead of layered over each other like normal birds.

"I believe that these birds inhabit a world other than ours and can only be seen here under the light of the full moon." The birds chirped, the same one flapping its wings and the other just peeped sadly. "Huh? Oh no! This one looks like it's been hurt!" The oden fox noticed, his voice laced with concern for the poor creature. Part of its tail feathers were missing. Watanuki gasped, remembering the spirit hitting the bag when she dropped it. She turned to the fox sadly and admitted her carelessness.

"On our way here, I was having trouble keeping the game going and our protection was weakened." Watanuki dropped her head, ashamed for her foolishness. "That's when the spirit knocked in out of my hand."

"That's why I was trying to get you to hurry! You could've come up with 'eel' sooner!" Mokona chastised softly.

"The poor thing." Watanuki looked at the bird again. "He can't fly like this."

"Little One," The big oden fox placed his paw on his son's shoulder. "Go and find the broken arrow from yesterday."

"Huh? Okay!" The little fox nodded and ran to his treasures, fishing out the fletching Doumeki had dumped in Watanuki's bag. He ran back over and handed it to his father.

"What are you going to do with it?" He asked curiously.

"Don't worry, it'll be alright." The big fox replied. "Now watch this." The fox held up the fletching to the light of the moon and it flashed once. Then the light hit the feathers, creating a curtain of white-blue moonlight that cascaded down onto the shadow of the birdcage.

"That's amazing!" Watanuki said as the moonlight hit the injured bird and regenerated it's missing feathers. The bird flapped its wings happily and fluttered in the air.

"Wow!" The little fox gasped.

"Looks like his tail is as good as new." The big fox said, handing the child back his toy. The birds chirped happily and flew out of the cage without anyone opening the door, gliding up into the sky as the moon lit their shadows up.

"They're so beautiful!" Watanuki gushed, watching the birds disappear.

"Please be sure to come back before the full moon sets!" The big oden fox called to the birds, his little child waving after the pair of Moonlight Birds. "Well, I think it's about time to close up the shop for the night." The big fox said as it turned to Watanuki. "Why don't we all sit down and have some dinner and an old fashioned moon viewing party?"

"Moon viewing party!~ Moon viewing party!~" Mokona shouted, jumping up and down.

"Quiet you!" Watanuki took a sumo stance to yell at the obnoxious fuzz ball.

"Heh heh!"

"If you drink we won't be able to play the game of letter and get home safely!"

"Why don't you let my little one escort you back after dinner?" The big oden fox offered. "I'm sure he'd be happy too." The foxes looked at each other, the little one smiling. "As long as he as the feather, you can make it safely without the game of letters."

"Yeah!" The little fox nodded, then nuzzled his feathers.

"That's very brave," Watanuki said. "Okay! Thanks for your help. We really appreciate it." The girl smiled. They all went inside the stand to have some dinner, Watanuki and Mokona both cooing and humming at the delicious oden as they stuffed their faces.

"What's the matter?" The big fox asked his child when he saw his droopy ears after looking at Watanuki's content face. "You know, little one, I can always tell when something bothering you." The little fox's tail bushed out again, his fur sticking every which way as he was caught.

"Well, it's just that…" He started softly. Watanuki looked down, pushing her glasses into place. "I wanted to play the game of letters too!"

"Alright! We will." Watanuki smiled softly, endeared with the little fox's request.

"Mokona will play too! Mokona is really good at that game!" The fur ball hopped into the picture with triumphant arms.

"You can play but no cheating this time!" Watanuki growled, glaring down at Mokona.

"I don't cheat! I just play by slightly different rules that's all!" The mokona hummed.

"That's cheating!" Watanuki

"You're just whining 'cuz you're no good at it!" Mokona teased. "You're such a loser!~"

"You take that back, you little-!" Watanuki threatened, fisting her hands. Then she saw the little fox smiling and her anger evaporated. "Okay! Would you like to start?" She asked the little fox. "Anything's alright, so you can start with whatever category you like!"

"Anything I want?" The little fox's face scrunched up in thought. "Well...okay…let's see…hmmm…I'm thinking…" The fox tipped his head to the left and then to the right as he thought, acting so cute. "How 'bout animals?" Watanuki flopped onto the counter, rattling dishes as her worst category popped up again. Mokona laughed at her along with the big fox and the little fox just looked at her funny.

Back at the shop, Yuko was outside enjoying her moon viewing party of one (Maru and Moro were taking a nap). She sipped her sake and looked up at the moon, listening to the Moonlight Birds' joyful singing as they stood on the shadows in her garden.

"Well, it looks like Watanuki has successfully completed her errand." She said, smiling at the two birds. "I always enjoy a full moon. To you!" The witch raised her cup to the moon, toasting its beauty.

Then she wondered when Watanuki was coming back. She was almost out of snacks and was definitely going to need more sake. "Hurry back, Watanuki."

Somewhere in the streets of Tokyo, Watanuki sneezed during the game of letters, effectively losing her train of thought and losing the game for a record seventh time as the little oden fox and Mokona laughed at her.

To be continued…

A/N: There you go!

Note 1: Oba-san is not the fortune-tellers actual name. It's just an honorific that can mean "aunt" or "middle-aged lady" when used without the accent over the first a, or it can mean "grandmother" or "female senior citizen" when the accent it present. The fortune-teller is never given an official name so the only name I can to go off of was Yuko's honorific that she was addressed by and that's why it's capitalized, even if it's incorrect. I prefer to think of Oba-san in terms of "aunt" instead of "grandmother" because even though Yuko has a close relationship with the fortune-teller, with Yuko's timeless age, they'd be relativity (in an abstract way) closer to the age of old friends than the age of a younger woman seeking advice older woman.

Note 2: Basics of Japanese traditional clothing. For women's kimonos (especially ones like Yuko's) are made up of many undergarments and robes that are placed close to the body and then are covered by the intricately detailed embroidered over robe. Yukata, for both men and women, are light fabric, summer kimonos that are commonly worn at festivals in the hot months. An obi for women is the sash that is tied around the kimono and bunched at the back, kind of like a turtle's shell in my opinion. For men's kimonos, they can wear them without pants like the women do, or they can wear hamaka (pleated pants that are tied outside of the kimono) and tuck the kimono inside the pants. Hamaka can be divided into pants or kept in one piece to resemble a skirt. Tabi are two-toed socks (one toe for the big toe and a second toe for the last four) that are wore with a variety of sandals such as straw zori (which are like modern flip flops), the geta (which have one or two "teeth" on the bottom to hold up the base) or okobo which are a type of geta that are like platform shoes but without the "teeth" or normal geta. The Japanese wear geta so that when they wore expensive kimonos, the fabric wouldn't drag in mud or dirt. Haori are hip or thigh length jackets that look like kimono tops. They were traditionally worn by men but came into fashion for women during the Meiji period. Men's haori are shorter than women's.

Note 3: Oden is a winter dish consisting of several ingredients including boiled eggs, daikon, konjac and fishcakes stewed in a light, soy-flavored broth. Ingredients may vary between regions and the oden itself can be made up in different combinations of ingredients.

Note 4: a yatai (literally shop stand) is a mobile food cart with limited menus and are set up late and night and do business until the early morning before commuters fill the streets. Yatai are also set up during festivals to sell foods to spectators.

Note 5: Shiritori, or the Game of Letters (the Alphabet Game in English) is a game that's played between two or more people and each player has to name a thing that starts with the ending kana sign (or letter) of the other players words. For example: toad would then be followed by dog, because toad ended in a D and dog starts with a D. It's the same in the Japanese game; and commonly, the game starts with "ri" the last sound in "shiritori" and then goes on from there. Shiritori literally means "taking the buttocks" or "taking the end" relating to taking the last kana of the previous word to make the next word in the game. In the Japanese version, if a player uses a word ending with N, the next player loses the game as no Japanese words starts with the character for N. (This happens to Watanuki in the sub when the little oden fox chooses "oden" for the first word in their game, causing Watanuki to lose by default.)

Note 6: Yeah, I listened to the audio like a million times, and Mokona says earthworm and Watanuki replies with walrus, when he should've said something with an M. I don't know what the dubbers were doing with that. X/ I guess they just wanted to use the word "sasquatch!" XD

Sorry if you already knew this stuff but I find doing these little lessons fascinating and informative so I can integrate information into my stories without losing anyone along the way.

And last note: I don't know if any of you noticed this but when Watanuki and Himawari go to watch Doumeki's competition it's the weekend (in the sub Watanuki says that it's Sunday) and then he visits the oden shop and takes dinner home (it's still the weekend or Sunday). But then Yuko comments that its nearly the full moon at dinner and that they need to have a party the next night (which according to Yuko the next day is Friday the 13th) And then Watanuki mentions that he thinks the errand that he's running is to take the bento boxes back to the foxes' for "last night's dinner." So I can't tell if this discrepancy is me being very confused or is the archery competition actually happens on Thursday instead of Sunday or if an entire week has passed in the course of the episode. Food for thought!

That's all for now! See you next time! ;3


	5. The Flower and The Rain

A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry this is a month late but I had tons of homework for school and couldn't find the time to write much! I hope you really enjoy this chapter because I had a fun time writing it! Be sure to let me know if you did like it or not in your comments because I love hearing from you guys! Well, let's go! Happy reading! :3

Chapter Four: The Flower and The Rain

"Anyone here?" Watanuki called at the empty cashier's counter. "Hellooo?" She called again, rocking back and forth on her toes and heels as she stood in the quiet drug store. She'd been sent out to get a hangover remedy for Yuko's late night drinking habits and was not happy about trekking around town trying to find this little drug store under an overpass. She could hear cars zooming by overhead as she waited at the counter. _Why did I have to come to this specific drugstore? What's so special about Green Drugstore? _"Excuse meee! Helllooo? Is anyone here?"

"Coming!" Came a call from the back room. A cute boy with sandy, blondish-brownish (Watanuki really could not tell) hair ran out to the counter in his apron with a huge smile on his face.

"Can you tell me what's the best thing for stomach pain?" Watanuki asked, her hands going down to her skirt to pinch the fabric.

"Ekikyabe, but we might be out." The boy turned to look at the shelves of drugs behind him, his hand grazing over several boxes. "Let's see…Hey! Do you know if we have any ekikyabe left?" The boy yelled down the counter. Another employee came out of the back room, a tall, dark and handsome type and he placed on of his hands on the shelves, not coming out of the back room all the way.

"Depends. Do you want regular or S type?" The dark one asked. The blondish, brownish haired guy turned back to Watanuki.

"Take you pick, cutie." He said with a relaxed smile.

"Uh…well whichever is the most effective." Watanuki replied, a slight blush coating her cheeks at being called a cutie. She twirled her finger around her short pony tail, her black locks looping around over and over again. The cute boy ran into the back room with the other one and both came out scowling at each other but the happy boy smiled at Watanuki again as she paid for her purchase and then walked out of the drugstore, waving back at both the employees as the door shut behind her.

She walked for forty five minutes across town to get back to Yuko's shop, sighing in relief when the mansion came into view behind the tall business buildings that surrounded it on three sides and the girl nearly skipped up the path to the door. She slid her shoes off in the entry way and made her way to Yuko's receiving room.

"I'm back!" The seer sang as she slid the door back to enter the room.

"That's wonderful, but for heaven's sake, could you keep it down?" Yuko was strewn all over her couch, her pink sleeping kimono almost falling off her boobs as she lay down. The witch's hand was massaging her forehead, her hangover from drinking yesterday still taking its toll. "My head's pounding!" Watanuki moaned in non-pity, and just stared at Yuko.

"Quietly! Quietly!" Maru and Moro sprang in front of their mistress, hands clasped together as they whispered to Watanuki.

"Have you no sympathy for my current state of dehabilitation?" Yuko asked mournfully. "I think I may be dying!"

"It's just a hangover!" Watanuki said, pinching the bridge of her nose in annoyance at Yuko's drama. "You're not dying! You'll be fine!" She reached into the shopping bag and pulled out the drug so she could twist off the cap and hand it to Yuko. "Here. Drink up."

"A hangover plus a lack of sleep is deadly, trust me." Yuko limply reached up her arm and took the ekikiyabe and swallowed down the whole bottle. As she was doing so, Watanuki noticed something in the room that she hadn't before. There was a small table and on the table was a labtop hooked up with a mouse and a pitcher of water and a glass next to it.

"What's that?" Watanuki asked, leaning closer. "Yuko! I didn't know you owned a computer!"

"The net!~ The net!~" Maru and Moro sang, grabbing each other's hands and jumping up and down. Yuko stood up and finished off the drug, smiling hugely. "Water?" The twins asked, Maru pouring and Moro holding the cup. They'd somehow slipped past Watanuki's sight and snagged the water right off the table she was looking at. The twins handed their mistress the cup and Yuko downed that too.

"So! Shall we get going then?" The witch asked, an uncommon smile splitting her face.

"The mistress is changing clothes!~" Maru and Moro sang as they ran off to Yuko's room for her clothes.

"There's something I want to buy." Yuko said seriously.

"Great. I'm calling it a day." Watanuki pivoted around and held her hand up in goodbye. She didn't want to deal with Yuko's antics today. "I'll see you later."

"Nice try, Watanuki." Yuko's claws came up and grabbed the seer's shoulder, catching her before she could run for it. "But you're still working." She yanked the grimacing teen back, her cat-ate-the-canary smile stretching across her face. Mokona was getting a drink of water now, interrupting the conversation with a satisfied, "Delish!" as it finished its drink. Maru and Moro ran back into the room with a change of clothes and two seconds later Yuko was dressed.

Today's outfit was a fashionably striking one. Yuko was wearing dark tan pants with a purple and white cloud pattern on it wrapped around the left calf, and a little blue purse on her right hip, a white belt, a wide shouldered, maroon, long sleeved crop top (so show off her flat, gorgeous belly) with the same cloud pattern on her upper arm, a dark ribbon necklace that matched her eyes and swept her long, luxurious hair up into a high pony tail with her bangs and customary long from pieces of hair hanging loose.

"Alright! Let's shop!" She said, with a smile that could rival a hyena's.

"Okay. One: Where are we going? And two: How are we going to get there? You know I don't have a license." Watanuki asked as she trudged over to Yuko.

"Oh, we're not driving." Yuko said all innocent-like.

"Ooookay. So we're taking the train?"

"We're walking." The witch said, turning away mysteriously and folding her arms.

"So…where are we going?" Watanuki asked again.

"Ginza." Yuko stated like it was no big deal. (1)

"Wait! GINZA?!" Watanuki's mouth dropped. "That's nowhere near here, Yuko! Do you realize how long that will take?!"

"Not long at all, actually!" Yuko walked over to a set of sliding doors that Watanuki either hadn't noticed or had just showed up within the last few minutes randomly (doors tended to do that in Yuko's home). "Have a little faith. I know a short cut." Yuko slid one of the doors open, a mass of black and blue swirly vortex peeking through the other side.

"What the hell is that?!" Watanuki sheriked, running over to see the void. A cool wind blew into her face as the seer and the twins joined Yuko in front of the "shortcut." The raven could see not end to the void, a shiver running down her spine

"You like it? I made it myself!" Yuko bragged. "It makes these long trips a tad more convenient." Mostly Watanuki was just creeped out, not impressed.

"Oh okay. It's just a cold, dark, windy tunnel." Watanuki quibbled. "There's nothing to be afraid of." Only she really was afraid.

"Maru, Moro, Mokona" Yuko addressed the twins and the fur ball. "Take care of the house while we're gone."

"Be careful!~" The twins smiled and waved, holding each other's free hand. "Watch your step!"

"And good luck!" Mokona called. Yuko grabbed Watanuki's collar while she wasn't paying attention and dragged the girl into the tunnel. Watanuki screamed and wriggled around in her grip, her legs and arms going off in all directions as she flipped out, her groans and shrieks and weird noises echoing around the void. The twins slid the door shut behind them and now Watanuki had no clue how to get back to the shop, even if she wanted too. After some time, Yuko was tired of dragging the girl and dropped her on the cold floor and calmly walked on ahead. Watanuki sprang to her feet and carefully, frightened, followed, her hands reaching out to her employer should she need to grab something to use as a shield. Watanuki's whimpers still reverberated around her, bouncing around the tunnel. She slipped on the cold floor, spinning and twirling around with a scream as she tried t get her feet again. She did, nearly in the splits when she stopped moving and waited a moment to catch her breath. She stopped breathing when she felt something slimy, sickly and definitely _not_ the floor slid under her feet. Her face turned blue at the smell of boy's gym socks and decaying trees and she stood stock still until it passed.

"Y-yuko? Did you see that?" She whispered, still not moving. "I think there's something in here with us!"

"Look!" Watanuki jumped as Yuko replied, her over active imagination startling her. "If yo ucan't keep up I'll leave you here!" The witch threatened as she kept walking on. Watanuki took one step, trying not to be left behind when she slipped again, her foot lost and she slid around the tunnel with graceless screams. What seemed like forever later, the pair of them popped out of a dressing room in a department store and sauntered on through like there wasn't a void on the other side of the door.

"Was our little walk to much for you? You're out of breath." Yuko teased, hands on her hips. They were standing out in the middle of the street in the heart of the Ginza shopping district. The Wako building was right behind them in all its Neo-Renaissance glory as swarms of people passed the witch and her panting, considerably unhinged employee.

"I'm sorry if I freaked out a little, okay?!" Watanki snapped as she clenched her fists at the damn woman. "But that was weird!" She was crying now. "You just have this-this…_thing _in your house! With all these creatures crawling around it!"

"Hmm." Yuko hummed a she walked away. "Now I'm sure that shop was around here somewh-"

"ARE YOU EVEN LISTENTING TO ME!?" Watanuki screamed, drawing lots of looks as she dashed after Yuko. They walked for several blocks, passing store after store and Yuko refused to answer the seer as she shuffled behind. "Oh, I get it. It must be Ignore Watanuki Day." The girl slumped her shoulders in defeat.

Yuko stopped suddenly and snapped her head around looking at something.

"I'm not just a mindless servant, you know." Watanuki continued, thinking that Yuko was listenting to her. "I have feelings too." Yuko walked backwards quickly and plunked her hands on the glass of a shop, pushing the wide eyed face into a display of alcohol.

"My dear friend, I've missed you!" She said (as if to a lover), her finger drawing circles on the glass next to a particular type of sake. "You have no idea how hard it is to find this brand of sake! Be sure to pick some up before we leave!" Yuko ordered.

"Why won't you just ever listen to me?!" Watanuki shouted, throwing her hands up into the air. Yuko ignored her and started walking again, this time with Watanuki stomping behind her in agitation. They finally reached the shop Yuko had intended to go to a bit later. It was called Mikado Sports and as the name stated, it was a sports equipment shop. Watanuki watched Yuko browse a selection of bats, her arms crossed and confusion evident on her face. Yuko picked out a red bat and swung it with her expert skills that beat the girl in many a baseball game. "Are you serious? This is what you wanted to buy?"

"That's right!" Yuko smiled, swinging the bat again and bringing it back in front of her. "Oh yes, this'll do just nicely."

"Why did we have to come to Ginza for a bat? This isn't the only shop that sells them. We could've gotten one closer!" The girl used logic for once, trying to get Yuko to understand how ridiculous she was.

"Yes, but not a _red _bat. This makes so mch more of a statement ." Yuko caressed the red metal, smiling devilishly, Watanuki's logic thrown out the window by nonsense. The seer's face deadpanned, completely stupefied.

"Okay, are we done yet? I'm bored." Watanuki asked as they walked down the street once more, the bat slung over _her _shoulder in its case because Yuko didn't want to carry it.

"Shopping? Yes." Yuko replied as her sandal heels clicked on the pavement.

"What are you going to use this bat for anyway?" If Watanuki could've seen it, Yuko's face was dominated by her scheming smile. They walked out into a more open area of town, entering a residential complex.

"Just one more little task to complete." Yuko stated, walking along the crosswalk toward a huge apartment building.

"Hey! Wait-wait…what?" Watanuki scrambled to catch up and ended up trekking to a high floor to a specific apartment and then the witch proceeded to ring the doorbell an annoyingly numerous amount. "I'm guessing this is an acquaintance of yours?" The seer asked.

"Not quite. She's a customer."

"This is a business trip? Huh." Watanuki was going to say more when the door finally opened and Yuko _finally_ took her finger off the bell.

"Yes?" The woman behind the door was very beautiful. She had long, wavy brown hair that fell to her butt and was dressed in house sandals, a pink sweater top with a white collared shirt under that and a white skit that fell to her knees.

"Sorry to barge in like this, but I'm here to grant your wish." Yuko replied.

"Wish?" The woman asked her odd pinkish/purplish eyes confused.

_You've got to be kidding me! _Watanuki screamed mentally, disgusted at the fact that they'd walked all the way out here to buy a stupid red bat and meet with a person they didn't even know they were coming! But, despite the odd introduction, they were invited inside and the lady prepared a snack in the kitchen for the pair as they sat down at the table. Yuko was sipping tea quietly, and Watanuki was looking around the apartment, noticing the fake tree in the corner, the red highchair at the table, the toys strewn all over the floor and the couch. A clock was ticking, each tock loud and poignant as they sat in silence.

"Please forgive me. I know the place is a mess." The woman apologized.

"It's fine." Watanuki consoled.

"No need to fuss over us." Yuko added, taking a sip of her tea. Watanuki leaned sideways and shielded her mouth with her hand as she whispered to the witch.

"Hey, are you sure this is alright? Showing up at her house unannounced?"

"Calm down." Yuko replied softly. The lady picked up the tray she'd been placing snacks on and walked over to the opposite end of the table to sit down after she'd placed the tray on the table.

"You're Kindo, aren't you?" The housewife asked, looking at Yuko. Watanuki was lost again, her head tipped to the side in confusion.

"Yes. And you're Hana-Hana. Am I right?" Yuko asked in return. (2)

"Huh?" Watanuki let the question slip out before she could stop it.

"Our usernames." Hana-Hana explained. Watanuki looked around and noticed the pink laptop open on a small table, complete with mouse, mouse pad, all the cords and a cute pink flower as a desktop.

"Oh, I get it! You met on the Internet!" Watanuki realized.

"'Kindo' is from the literary masterpiece _Macaroni Horenso, _the best manga to come out of the 70's!"

"Ug." Watanuki groaned at Yuko's fangirl-ness. "On which sight did you two meet?" (She was almost too scared to ask.

"Girls For Magical . It's truly addictive." Yuko said, a mysterious smile accompany and eye sparkle. Watanuki just groaned again. _So you're one of those, huh?_

"It's such a pleasure to actually meet you in person!" Hana-Hana gushed. "You're posts are certainly the most insightful and entertaining I've read. I must say, I really enjoy reading your blogs! I'm surprised to find out you're such a young woman and so knowledgeable! You're really popular with all the bloggers!"

"Ug." Watanuki sighed.

"Now, let's discuss your last email, shall we?" Yuko's voice took on her business lilt, the mysterious mixing with the serious. Hana-Hana's smile dropped, her eyes looking down and her face uncomfortable. She sighed.

"I can't seem to give it up. The Internet." Watanuki leaned in closer, curious again. "I've always been responsible, but lately, every time I sit down in front of the computer, I get sucked in." She paused here, thinking. "I get in this zone where nothing else matters. Last night, I sat down at five and at nine I realized I hadn't fed my son."

"That's not good." Yuko interjected.

"I know." The clock ticked loudly in the silence.

"And yet this hasn't made you stop. You're still addicted." Yuko's eyes narrowed. Hana-Hana gasped, but didn't reply. "Why can't you let it go?"

"I don't know." The housewife looked down, not meeting Yuko's cranberry eyes. "I guess I'm not ready."

"And now?"

"This time I'll do it for sure. I'll quit! I'll do it!" Hana-Hana said, the falseness of her statement ringing into Watanuki's ears.

"Let's say you quit…then what?" Yuko asked.

"Simple: I'll keep the computer out of sight until I break the habit." Watanuki saw Hana-Hana's arms moving, presumably rubbing her hands together under the table. "Once I no longer need to be online, I can slowly work it back into my life."

"Tell me,"

"Yes?" Hana-Hana looked up at Yuko.

"To stop a habit you have to consider why you want to quit in the first place. What is it that brings you back to it? And why do you find it so difficult to stop?" Yuko picked up her cup and sipped her tea.

"Sorry…I'm not sure what you mean." The housewife replied.

"What is your main motivation for stopping?" Yuko asked pointedly, her cup clicking on the table harshly as she set it down, fingers still wrapped around it.

"Well, my husband says it's becoming a problem." Hana-Hana's hand came up to her cheek, her eyes dodging Yuko again

"In other words, you have you quit because your husband says so?" Hana-Hana gasped again. Yuko's eyes hardened, staring into the woman. "And are you in the habit of letting your husband order you around? Do you always do what he says?"

"No, it-it isn't like that." The housewife shuddered. Watanuki gulped, Yuko's scary face weirding her out. "My husband is a loving, understanding man. This is the first time he's ever told me to give something up."

"I see." Yuko let go of her tea cup, one of her hands cradling her cheek as she leaned on it.

"And he's right. I'm always in the Internet. It's like I've built this whole other life for myself. The other day my son asked me why I don't play with him anymore."

"And why is it necessary that you play with your son?" Yuko asked. Watanuki looked at Yuko, thinking the answer to her question was obvious. "Enlighten me." Watanuki's head snapped over to Hana-Hana.

"Because he's my son. He needs me. My family is important to me, I don't ever want them to feel like they're neglected."

"What's wrong with that? Why can't you neglect your family?" Yuko asked, Watanuki turned to her again and then looked back at Hana-Hana.

"Well I-I don't want to lose them." The woman's scramble to answers and her apparently discomfort were plain on her face.

"Why's that?"

"Why? Because I love them. That's why."

"But that hasn't been enough to make you quit in the past." At this point, Watanuki's head was just flipping back and forth between the women like she was watching a tennis match.

"Uh-" Watanuki coughed loudly, the tense atmosphere broken by her need to give them some privacy.

"E-ex-cough-use me!" She said, getting up and shuffling away in her house slippers to get a tissue from the kitchen.

"The desire to quit has to come from you, otherwise you will inevitably fail." Yuko yanked out her favorite word as she explained the situation to Hana-Hana.

"I know. I-" The housewife looked down.

"No. No more excuses."

_We might be dealing with something bigger than a spirit. _The seer grabbed a few tissues to wipe her hands off as she glanced back at the table.

"You want to stay away from the computer, is that correct?" Yuko asked, leaning over on both arms.

"Yes."

"Good. Because soon you will lose whatever little control you have over this obsession. You're ability to choose, its fading." Yuko's voice got even more serious, if that was even possible.

"Okay. I've chosen." The clock ticked ominously, counting down the seconds, the shortening time that Hana-Hana had to pull herself together.

"Well then," Yuko pointed at the desk across the room with a hard finger. "In that case, you must never touch that computer again." Hana-Hana looked at the computer for a moment and then looked away.

"Okay." Her voice was barely a whisper at this point, cowed by Yuko's interrogation.

"Watanuki!" Yuko said cheerfully, all signs of seriousness vanishing with her content smile as she stood up. "Our job here is done. Time to head home." Watanuki was confused and off-kilter by the one-eighty Yuko had just pulled. The clock kept ticking.

"Is that it? Isn't there anything else?" Hana-Hana asked as Yuko opened the door with Watanuki behind her, smoothing her unruly skirt down. Her voice was almost desperate. Strike that, it _was_ desperate.

"For instance?" Yuko asked, her blue purse slung over her shoulder like a lot of school boys carried their bags, her hand resting near her neck. Watanuki and the witch looked back by the door, the girl's hand gripping the bat bag.

"Don't you have any advice? Anything?"

"You already made the decision to quit; what's there for me to do?"

"Yeah…I guess you're right about that." Hana-Hana looked away.

"Stick with it and you'll be fine." Yuko walked out the door and Watanuki followed, just like always. Yuko started to shut the door but then popped her head back in for one last comment. "Remember: you made a promise to yourself!" She smiled and shut the door with a click.

But instead of going home, Yuko dragged the girl to a café and sat her down on an outside table and ordered two cups of coffee with lots of cream. Watanuki was still confused but she'd learned to roll with it. When the coffee came she picked up her teacup and took a sip

"So, now that we have time to talk," Yuko started, "How's it going with Wari?"

"Huh?" Watanuki took her cup away from her face and gave Yuko a funny look. The question had nothing to do with anything right now, which was more or less the witch's style. "Uh…what do you mean?"

"Thing's progressing smoothly, hm?" The woman asked, one elbow on the table, her hand in her hand again and the other was resting on her crossed legs.

"Not exactly. Doumeki keeps butting in." Watanuki huffed, irritated just by the name of her worst enemy.

"Yes, yes, yes. That's nice glad to hear it." Yuko replied, distracted by something.

"There you go _again_!" Watanuki snapped, clanking her teacup down on its saucer in annoyance. "You didn't hear a word I said, did you?! Listen, if you're not interested in what I have to say, then don't start the conversation in the first place." The seer took another sip of coffee. She wasn't expecting and answer from her boss, but when one didn't come it still ticked her off. Yuko wasn't even looking at her! "It's been a pleasure, but if that's all, I'm going home." Watanuki grumped, miffed at Yuko's treatment of her this entire day.

"Not yet." _So she was listening that time. _"There's more. Now we're waiting." Yuko's mischievous smile was back as she looked at the raven.

"Waiting? But for what?"

"The result." Suddenly it was like all the people typing on their computer's in the café suddenly sprang into focus, the clacking of their keys almost deafening to the girl. They sat in silence. Ten minutes passed and Watanuki was getting bored again when something happened. Inside the café, electrical interference was popping up on all the screens, a desktop of a pink flower on every single computer and TV.

"What's this?"

"Hey! Wait a minute!"

"What is going on here?!" Everyone on their electronic devices was shouting and asking questions about what was going on, but Yuko knew and Watanuki knew what had happened. Hana-Hana had gotten online, the pink flower on everyone's screens a testament to it.

"Hey, look." Watanuki told Yuko. The witch sighed.

"We didn't even have time to finish our first cappuccino. What a shame." Yuko took one last sip from her cup and paid for the coffee, walking out of the café and back onto the street. They made a beeline back to the apartment building and nearly ran across street to get to it. And then, instead of taking the stairs like a sane person (and Watanuki didn't even know how she did it) but Yuko dragged the seer up the side of the building and landed on the terrace, leaving the girl half-on half-off the balcony rail. Watanuki was just about to rip Yuko a new one for once (one does not strand one's employees off the side of building) but Yuko have her the "sh" sign and sneakily unlocked the screen door of the apartment (from the outside no less) and peered into Hana-Hana's house. She was on the computer, a crazy, wide-eyed look in her eyes and she was talking to herself as a notification sound beeped.

"Ah! An IM! I haven't heard from Kurari in so long! I guess one response wouldn't hurt!" The light fromt the screen shone in the housewife's eyes, lighting up her demented face. "Ah! A new update is available! Well, I have been waiting for this one…"

"Is that all it takes for you to give up on yourself?" Yuko said, mysteriously. Hana-Hana didn't know where the voice had come from, so she turned around as if a ghost had been speaking to her. And then Yuko made her grand entrance, scaring the shit out of Hana-Hana whilst flinging the drapes off of her body in majestic fashion while Watanuki continued climbing up the side of the railing like an idiot. "I thought you understood. Was I mistaken?" Hana-Hana stood up in surprise and tripped over her chair, falling down on the floor in a heap.

"This has really got to stop. Like _now_. Gah!" Watanuki had one knee and her other foot on the railing when she lost her grip and her body weight dragged her forward so she crashed on the ground face first.

"Watanuki, your yellow underwear is showing." Yuko said as she advanced on Hana-Hana , the epitome of creeper.

"Well, don't look!" Watanuki snapped, sitting up in a flash and yanking her skirt back under her.

"I'm sorry! I-I was just sending a goodbye email to my friends." Hana-Hana confessed a half-truth, half-lie.

"Really?" Yuko asked, sounding like a parent who'd just caught their kid on a porn sight and they'd lied about it. "That looks like a website to me," Yuko pointed out, glancing at the screen.

"No! It's not what you're thinking, I promise! I was just checking to see if a novel I've wanted had come in!" Hana-Hana cringed as Yuko walked right up to her and knelt in her face. "I swear! I was only…" Hana-Hana looked away from Yuko, her voice fading away as her lies bottled up.

"I'm not the one you need to convince." Yuko said firmly taking the housewife's chin and making her look into her deep red eyes. They ignored Watanuki now, like they were in their own little world right in front of her. There, but not quite there. "You didn't let me down, you let yourself down. You can say you'll stop, you can swear that you'll quit, you can claim to change but empty promises aren't going to save you."

"I know!" Hana-Hana whimpered, her voice cowed by Yuko's harsh reality. "As soon as I'm finished with this last email I'm gonna stop!"

"The best tools you have in life are action and sincerity." Yuko stared at Hana-Hana, the woman's eyes boring deep into the quaking housewife. It was like Yuko was staring into her soul, revealing all its dirty secrets. "Whether you quit a bad habit or start a good one, full commitment is necessary."

"You mean…my commitment towards my family?" Hana-Hana asked softly.

"No, not them. This isn't your family's problem. You must be committed to yourself." Yuko's hand came up to Hana-Hana's ear, cupped her face and then stroked down her jaw and came to rest on the woman's lips.

"My family…they mean everything to me…"

"Yes, that may be true, but they are not the one's making this choice. Sometimes you have to put yourself first to help the ones you love. This is the only way. Learn to make your own decisions instead of relying on others to make them for you. Otherwise, those decisions will never be made." Watanuki watched the whole exchange in silence, having nothing to add to it and not quite sure Yuko would want to butting in anyway. "Look closer and you will see that the world you're immersing yourself in is just an escapes, any happiness it brings you just a façade, intangible and unfulfilling." Yuko's wandering hand came to rest on Hana-Hana's clenched fist, unwinding the fingers and taking her hand. Yuko stood up, her considerable height looming over the housewife.

"So you can let it go…or embrace the fantasy. It's your choice. So choose." Yuko yanked the woman to her feet and righted the chair to sit Hana-Hana down in it in front of the computer, hands on the housewife's shoulders, lips by her ear. "Quit thinking about what everyone else wants you to do, don't think about your son's need for you, ignore your husband's affections. There's another world right here, filled with pleasures far superior to those you find in real life. Sometimes the right choice is the most tantalizing." Yuko's hands squeezed and the little bubble they were surrounded in popped, bringing the women back into the apartment with Watanuki. "So come on: it's time to choose your future and live it." Yuko walked around to the side and replaced her hands to the front of Hana-Hana's shoulders.

"I…" The clock ticked on the wall as Watanuki watched, her face worried that the woman didn't want to stop her addiction, that she'd succumb to it and be lost to everyone outside of the computer. "…want to quit. I want out."

"Out of what?" Yuko asked.

"My internet obsession." Hana-Hana looked away. "I just want to get my real life back." Watanuki sighed in relief, smiling a little. Yuko stood up with her hands on her hips.

"Do you think you can do it this time?"

"Yes, I can. Can you do me a favor?" Both women were smiling now.

"You need a little help?"

"Yeah."

"How many computers are there?"

"Just that one." Hana-Hana looked at her computer.

"So that's the only thing that standing in your way."

"Yes." The housewife's voice was quiet again.

"Excellent. Then I think I can find you a way out. Of course, in exchange, I will exact a price." _Here we go again, _Watanuki thought as the smiled just a little wider.

"Money?" Hana-Hana asked.

"No. I don't want your money." Yuko looked around, tsking as she did so. She spotted something and smiled deviously, pointing to the object she chose. "But I will be taking that chair there." It was an red high chair, presumably for the housewife's son.

"The highchair? But why?" Hana-Hana asked.

"Yeah, why?" Watanuki asked snarkily, giving the chair a dubious look.

"Is it a deal?" Yuko asked, ignoring both females.

"Yeah, okay." Yuko whipped a huge black marker about of her bag and twirled it around her fingers like a badass about to do something cool, suddenly clenching it in her right fist. She held up her other hand open behind her.

"Watanuki," She said strongly, "The red bat." The seer unslung the bag from her shoulder and held it out to Yuko unzipped. Yuko reached inside the grabbed the red bat, flipping the marker's cap off with her thumb and started writing. Watanuki's face morphed into one of confusion and embarrassment as Yuko started inscribing kanji on the bat with harsh strokes. "Name's are more important that you'd expect."

"Wh-what are you doing?" Watanuki asked skeptically.

"See, naming something empowers it, whether an object or a person. Whenever you attach and name to something, its potential function in the world around you changes accordingly."

"I fail to see how that helps our present situation." Watanuki replied, still staring at the witch like she was crazy. Hana-Hana was doing it too. Yuko held up the bat when she was done, half of her face peeking out from behind the name "Zan Tekken," meaning "steel-cutting sword." Watanuki figured out instantly where this was going.

"Che! You've got to be kidding me!" She screamed. Yuko stood in front of the computer in a swordman's stance, the bat clenched in her hand resting near her left hip, her right hand coming to draw the "sword" from its "sheath." "Hold on a second!" Watanuki squealed, trying to stop the witched before she did something crazy. Hana-Hana gasped in realization about five Yuko-minutes behind Watanuki. (It was really starting to scare the raven just how much she could predict her boss' actions…her brain must've been evolving into something twisted like Yuko's.) Yuko's thumb came out off the bat, releasing the "sword" from the "sheath" like a real samurai and she drew out the bat and swung it behind her head.

"Hmmmmmm!" She hummed, readying her strike. Watanuki and Hana-Hana kept screaming at the most certain property destruction that was going to happen. "Hah!" Yuko's arms snapped down as the bat ran through the laptop and out under the table. The computer split in two like it really had been cut by a sword. Yuko hummed in satisfaction and swung the bat onto her shoulder.

"Consider yourself liberated. There's nothing more to worry about. You're free!" She said knowing (and smug too).

"Whoa! You didn't even nick the table!" Watanuki exclaimed as she flailing around the desk. She was used to this stuff at this point, the fact that a bat cutting a computer was somewhat normal, but what really impressed her was that Yuko hadn't wrecked anything else.

"Since that's done," Yuko started as she walked around the table, her hand coming to rest on the high chair. "I'll be taking my payment. Whatever happens from this point onward is up to you." Hana-Hana gasped again (must just be her involuntary reaction to anything), watching as Yuko scooped up the chair and Watanuki and strolled out the door, leaving the woman and her broken computer standing in the apartment.

"Wait, Yuko! You can't just leave!" Watanuki said as she was dragged out the door. Yuko shut the door behind her and proceeded to walk down the stairs, dropping Watanuki with herself, the bat and the highchair.

"Slicing her computer in half…well I guess that's one way to keep her off the net." Watanuki mused as she shouldered both the bat and the chair on opposite arms and followed a sauntering Yuko down the street. "Only, its extreme."

"The stunt served its purpose." Yuko said, positively beaming at her theatrics.

"Uh huh."

"She needed to cut to ties to that machine, not that she won't find another."

"Wait, but you said you'd help cure her!" Watanuki pointed out.

"No, I said I'd help her choose. Success is entirely up to her."

"That's one way of looking at it, sure. Of course, some might say you swindled her." Watanuki poked slyly.

"I suppose you could see it that way, but consider this: if my assistance to her had been greater, then the price would be greater as well. Remember Watanuki, the universe requires balance." Yuko paused, deep in thought. "This way, I was still able to help her, but the only thing she lost was a chair." There was no need to discuss the subject further, Watanuki understood. So instead, she just smiled and wanted to get home quickly. She was so done with this day.

"So tell me: are we taking the shortcut again?" She asked hopefully.

"No, we're taking the train." Yuko replied with a yawn.

"Train?! Why?!"

"Because I feel like it!"

"Do you know how ridiculous I'm going to look on the train with this stuff?" Watanuki shrugged her shoulders to emphasize the bat and the highchair. "Can't we just walk? I'll take that tunnel, even! I can deal with the weird monsters in it, I swear!"

"No." Yuko denied the girl and started walking toward the train station.

"Yuko!" Watanuki ran after her, the bat and highchair jabbing her in the back and armpit. "Come on!"

"Quit whining, Watanuki!" On the way home, Watanuki only looked a little ridiculous and the upside was that no one wanted to crowd or bump into her on the train (sharp chair corners and pokey bats will do that). And the other good thing was that once they were at the shop, Yuko set the girl straight home without having her cook and elabrorate dinner or somesuch other excruciatingly complicated chore like that. Just a brisk goodbye and here's your stuff and the girl was back out on the street walking home, batless and chairless.

Once in her apartment, the seer dumped her school bag in her room and didn't even bother with dinner, just cleaning herself up and getting to bed. Watanuki slumped onto her futon at the end of the day and wondered why she still put up with Yuko. She sighed and shrugged her shoulders, an answer not presenting itself. She reached for her own laptop, the day's events prompting her to log onto her favorite site once the machine had booted up, her prolonged absence from the forum apparent when most of the bloggers online contacted her immediately to say hi and get a new story or two. UndergroundtheTown was a popular site for supernaturalists to compare odd goings-on events and strange occurrences (which no one knew for sure were true or not) and Watanuki was quiet popular among the chat rooms. She got tons of requests for her supernatural stories every time she logged on as Little_Crane_Seer, her most common chatters being LadyNotLuck, Silent Bronze Statue, Rudy-Eyes, Stealth Shadow, ButterflyGraffiti, Notusic, AngelWings208 and Neko Weow. They were her adoring followers, the only people who ever treated Watanuki like she was popular and it was enough for the seer that these people listened to her (even if they didn't fully believe her stories). In the real world, she was a weirdo. Here, she was the goddess of spooky stories, the guru of the supernatural (all of which were true and had actually happened to her at some point or another – whether people believe them or not was another thing entirely).

The only problem was that ButterflyGraffiti was just creepy and was just as popular as Little_Crane_Seer and Silent Bronze Statue was sorta stalkerish – the oaf weaseling into all of Watanuki's conversations and chat sessions with other bloggers. Watanuki fended off Silent Bronze Statue with a metaphorical bat and spent the next hour relating some more spirit stories. She glanced up at the clock a bit later, the hour speeding by much more quickly than she'd expected. Watanuki left the forum and shut down her computer, stretching her arms above her head. She didn't want to be on the net too long or else Yuko might come after her with that red bat of hers.

The seer got up, changed into her sleeping shorts and tank top, brushed her teeth, did some homework and then went to bed. Curling up onto her futon, Watanuki drifted off to sleep after she'd placed her glasses where she could reach them, the click her keyboard still ringing in her ears.

Out in the night, ButterflyGraffiti logged off as well, her mysterious smile shadowed by a cloud passing over the moon as she sat at her small table. She reached for the beer Watanuki had left out for her and took a sip, giggling to herself over Little_Crane_Seer's conversations tonight as she crossed her long legs and lounged in her kimono. "How very amusing." She said, putting down the beer can with a clunk, the condensation sliding down the aluminum surface.

Silent Bronze Statue was also logging off now that Little_Crane_Seer was nowhere to be found. He rolled out the kinks in his neck and put his computer away. Lying down on his futon, he closed his bronze eyes and wondered what Watanuki would be making him for lunch the next day.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"I'm sick of all this rain. Enough's enough already!" Watanuki grumbled as she walked down the street, shielded from the downpour by her purple umbrella. Her shoes were soaked at this point, her socks were wet (and that was _never_ a comfortable feeling) and a little while ago a car drove by her and splashed water all over her skirt (once again, _not_ a comfortable feeling). "With all this rain I can't hang the laundry to dry and Yuko's been on my case to air out the futons." The girl sighed. "Sure would make my life easier if it stopped." Just then something knocked the girl on the head really hard and she shrieked in pain, letting go of her umbrella to hold her stinging head. She instantly got soaked by the downpour.

"I'll curse you!" A voice snapped from behind the raven. Watanuki turned around and saw a chick dressed in a black, Goth Lolita dress with poofy, frilly white socks on her feet, black heels, black gloves and sporting the reddest hair the seer had ever seen pulled into two high pony tails and swirled into one curl on each side of the girl's bangs. "If it didn't rain there'd be no vegetation! And then where would we be, Ms. Rain-Hater?" The girl swung her purple with white frills umbrella up onto her shoulder and scowled at Watanuki.

"Uh…I'm sorry?" Watanuki said. She didn't know it she was say sorry for wishing the rain to stop or if she was saying it like "I beg your pardon" sorry. Either way worked, she guessed.

"I'll forgive you this time, Kimihiro Watanuki." The girl swung her umbrella again, this time out in front of her and almost in Watanuki's face. The seer got splashed from the water coming off the umbrella and (never mind that she was already soaked) proceeded to wipe off her face in a hilarious manner. "I've come here to give you a command!" The girl stated proudly.

"What?!" Watanuki took a few steps back from the crazy person, flailing her arms around.

"You heard me. Now take me to Yuko!" The red head demanded haughtily. Watanuki was about to refuse and put the Goth chick back in her place when he was jabbed in the stomach by the tip of that damn girl's umbrella. The seer gasped in pain and was then grabbed by her collar and hauled off to the shop anyway, the Goth pulling her like a suitcase. Once at the shop, Watanuki was dried off and the red headed Goth was seated on a mat in the dining room with Maru, Moro and Mokona to entertain her.

"Rain! Rain! Falling down!" Maru sang, skipping past the red head happily.

"Falling! Falling! To the ground!" Moro sang as she skipped in the opposite direction.

"No umbrella! You'll get wet!" Mokona cackled as it hopped past.

"Let's just how wet you get!" The trio chorused together. Maru and Moro waved huge leaves on top of the Goth, going into a Japanese song about rain next.

"Rain, rain, falling, falling!" Maru sang.

"Rain even more!" Moro continued.

"If you don't have an umbrella, raise a leaf instead!" Mokona chortled. (It sounds better in Japanese!)

"Nice to see you've regained some composure," Yuko said, standing next to her little employee outside the dining hall. They were watching the customer, peeking out from behind the screen door as the twins and Mokona kept singing. "You looked like crying Nobita when you walked in. Good thing you dried up those tears." Yuko giggled as Watanuki snarled. (3)

"I was not crying! It was the rain!" Watanuki hissed, peeved at being teased. "So what exactly is she anyway?"

"She's and Ame-Warishi."

"Huh?"

"A sprite that controls the rain." They watched Mokona jump into Ame-Warishi's hands and dance around, its ears popping up cheerfully.

"You mean – like a demon?"

"No, not at all. She's much more powerful than that." Yuko took this moment to make her entrance into the room, Moro putting down a pillow for her to kneel on.

"Excuse me! Why do I have to sit on this reed mat? It's scratchy!" Ame-Warishi complained loudly.

"To protect the floor from moisture." Yuko said, elegantly sitting down in her red and yellow kimono. "Now, what can my Watanuki do for you? Do you have some special task for her?"

"What does she mean, 'My Watanuki?'" The raven grumbled from behind the door.

"Well, as a matter of fact, I do." Ame-Warishi stated frankly.

"I see. Then I take it it's something that will require her unique abilities.

"Yes, actually."

"Great…now what is she getting me into?!" Watanuki sweat-dropped and grimaced.

"Very well." Yuko agreed.

"I'm so screwed!" Watanuki concluded looking away from the pair. _It's like Yuko is bartering me away! _(Which, she kind of _was_.)

"I'll need payment for her services." Yuko continued.

"How much?" _Now it really feels like I'm being sold!_

"Something equivalent to the task, naturally." Watanuki threw her hands into the air, her pointy teeth making an appearance as she silently raved about her current situation. _Why is Yuko negotiating?! Don't I get a say?! I'm the one doing the work! _The girl banged her head on the ground and then had to spit her pony tail out of her mouth when it got caught on her tongue from all the flipping.

"Okay. But just bear in mind, if this turns out to be some sort of scam, you'll have rain clouds following you wherever you go. We clear on that?" Ame-Warishi threatened in a non-threatening way.

"Yes." Yuko turned her head around in Watanuki direction. "Attend to our guest!" She called. Watanuki slammed the door open in a defiant lunge and waved her arm across her body dramatically.

"I'm not your slave!" She shouted.

"Yes you are!" Yuko chuckled and then sent the girl for tea and snacks while she got the details of the job from Ame-Warishi. A few minutes after tea had been brought in an the ame-warishi downed her glass, the seer was surprised to find herself being pushed out the door with an umbrella in hand with hardly a goodbye or instructions on what she was supposed to do! Yuko waved from the porch as Ame-Warishi shoved Watanuki down the street, poking the raven with her umbrella to get her to move.

"I can walk on my own!" The girl snapped at the red head, swatting her back with her own umbrella. She quickly put the umbrella over her head when the rain half-soaked her in two seconds and then shivered all the way down the street. The pair made their way to Doumeki's "place" as Yuko had instructed them to do and Watanuki was _not_ happy that they were picking up her rival, her soaked clothes just making the whole situation worse. Her grey jacket was now itchy and scratchy, the fabric chaffing her elbows and armpits and her skirt was sticking to her legs. She was a mess and not that she wanted to look nice for Doumeki of all people, but being (mostly) put together was the seer's pet peeve and she was _not_ put together on this rainy day.

Watanuki and Ame-Warishi kept walking, the rain sprite occasionally poking the seer when the arguing dropped off (and sometimes it was just for fun to tick Watanuki off) and every passing minute was torture for the raven. When they finally reached the address that Yuko had given Watanuki the seer was relieved to be there. _Maybe the Goth can bug Doumeki now, that'd be nice, _Watanuki sighed, then she looked up. Ame-Warishi was entering a huge, ornate gate, heading into a temple's grounds. Watanuki peeked in, making sure this was the right address before letting her mouth gape open. Doumeki lives in temple?! It was gorgeous, even in the rain. The grounds were clean (and wet), there were multiple (wet) buildings with traditional sweeping rooftops that were well kept, and the entire complex was huge (and wet)! Watanuki couldn't deny that she was a little jealous that her rival got to live in such a nice place. She thought back to her tiny apartment with the lights that flickered no matter how many times she changed the bulbs and the heating that never really worked in the winter and the air conditioning that never really worked in the summer and all the other little problems that Doumeki probably didn't have. After she got over being jealous, the seer stewed, the water that clung to her skin evaporating as she heated up. Before even crossing the grounds to catch up with Ame-Warishi, the devil himself walked out of the biggest building on the temple grounds.

"Oh, boy. Look whose come crying in the rain." Doumeki said as she crossed his arms, his version of a smug face evident (his face looked the same, actually but Watanuki could tell he was smug). He was dressed in a matching blue kimono top and loose pants, his geta sandals slapping on the steps of the temple as he walked out. "You look just like Nobita."

"I am _not_ crying!" Watanuki snapped, taking her defiant lunge and waving her blue umbrella at the archer angrily. "My face is wet because I've been walking in the rain for an hour! I'm only here because Yuko told me to come and get you, don't ask me why. I'm amazed I found you at all with the size of this place, it's obscene! How much space do you need?! Do you realize how many houses you could fit in this garden alone?" Watanuki cut off her rant as Ame-Warishi ran over to Doumeki and started sniffing him, going from one side to the other. She sighed and blushed as the seer and the archer just kind of stared at her like she was idiots.

"This is such an unusually fresh essence." The rain sprite gushed, clapping her hands together as she sniffed some more.

"Who is this?" Doumeki asked, not phased the weird attention.

"She's an Ame-Warishi." Watanuki replied, stepping under the lip of the roof with the archer and closing her umbrella up.

"Your friend here is a spirit?" Doumeki asked. If either of them were looking in the sprite's direction they would've seen her face morph into a monsterous make up. She wielded her purple umbrella like a sword and smacked the classmates in the face.

"Uh." Doumeki responded as he was smacked.

"Ah!" Watanuki gasped and grabbed her head with both hands.

"Putting me in the same class as spirits, I'll curse you both!" Ame-Warishi growled. "And that's just for starters!"

"He's the one who said it! Not me, okay!" A cross vein popped out on Watanuki's head as he pointed and accusing finger at Doumeki. The archer just rubbed his head with one hand.

"Was that really necessary?" He asked. Ame-Warishi just pouted.

"These two are complete idiots." She smiled. "But together they might just work!" She pointed at the pair.

"I'm not an idiot! He is!" Watanuki complained, flailing around. "Stop lumping us together!"

"Shut up." Doumeki plugged the ear closest to Watanuki with his finger to plug out her latest rant. Before another word could be said, the rain sprite was dragging Watanuki, Doumeki, a blue umbrella and a red bamboo umbrella out into the rain to their next stop. It was Wari's beautiful house, so Watanuki really didn't mind trekking across town to get there. She rang the door bell happily and hummed as she waited for the cute boy to answer the door. Doumeki just stared at her and Watanuki ignored him. When the door finally opened, Watanuki expected Wari's happy face, she just didn't expect the hair ribbons tied into his curls as well. It was like a three year old had attacked the teen's head with ribbons and elastics.

"So, you've come crying to me, just like Nobita." Wari said, giving Watanuki's wet face a bright smile. The girl blushed under her umbrella and waved off that comment.

"I'm not crying!" The seer said sweetly. She snapped around to Doumeki angrily as he plugged his ear with the hand not holding his own umbrella. "Keep your mouth shut, Doumeki! I know what you're thinking!" She cut off his comment about being mistaken for Nobita again before he could make it.

"So what brings you guys out in this weather?" Wari asked nicely.

"Uh…well…I was just…I was…" Watanuki started, unable to get out the question she needed to ask her crush.

"We need and item of yours. Something personal." Doumeki stated outright when Watanuki couldn't do it. The girl flipped out, pissed that Doumeki has asked Wari instead.

"Hey! Not so straight forward!" She chastised.

"Personal?" Wari asked, stepping under Doumeki's umbrella.

"Yeah." Doumeki replied. Watanuki was mortified. _What is happening?! _

"Just anything?" Wari asked, looking up at the taller boy.

"Right." Doumeki said down to the shorter boy. _He's being so nice to him! This is like some confession of love! Wari, why?! _Watanuki was twirling around the pair in despair, holding her head as she really did cry this time.

"How about this?" Wari pulled two white ribbons from his curls and held them up to Doumeki. "My neighbor's daughter put them in my hair today when they visited but they're really my mother's ribbons. We were playing and I didn't have the heart to take them out when she left. Will they work?"

"Do you think these will do?" Doumeki asked Watanuki, only she wasn't paying attention, just spinning around in the rain, and waving her arms in annoyance.

"No way! I can't believe it! He's wasting his time on someone like Doumeki!" The girl squealed, flailing around and getting soaked again.

"Idiot." Doumeki stated.

"Watanuki is always so full of energy!" Wari smiled as the two boys watched the girl make a foo; of herself. After some more pleasantries and goodbyes, Doumeki and Watanuki each took a ribbon and started walking down the street with their umbrellas, the seer slumped in a depression.

"You know, Wari is nice to everyone!" Watanuki said through clenched teeth, sneering at Doumeki. "So you're nothing special!"

"If you're using that logic, you're not special either." Doumeki shot back, giving the girl a (slight) look. They walked back to the rain sprite, who was hiding behind a light pole, her dress and umbrella poking out and giving away her position.

"Well, were you successful?" Ame-Warishi asked, peeking out from behind her pole.

"Yeah." Doumeki nodded.

"Why are you hiding?" Watanuki asked as the sprite inched behind the pole again.

"Why do you think? So I'm not exposed to that Wari guy!" She replied cryptically. "I don't know why someone like you would want anything to do with him with your predisposition!" She got into Watanuki's face, a annoyed expression on her own.

"Uh…?" Watanuki said, not understanding what the problem was.

"You're hopeless." The sprite sighed and started pointing at the pair. "You. You. Ribbon. Ribbon. Check! Let's go! We're moving on!"

"To where, exactly?" The seer asked.

"I need you to help me. I was hoping to handle this on my own, but I just can't." Ame-Warishi's haughty personality disappeared as her face dropped, a worried look replacing it. "I already tried, and failed." There was silence between the trio, the rain plinking on the ground and their umbrella's the only sound. "I need you."

The next thing she knew, Watanuki was walking in a park with Doumeki and not Ame-Warishi, like they were on a date or something. Which they _weren't_.

"I don't get it. How am I supposed to help her? Sure, I have an eye for spirits but I really can't do anything but see them."

"Yeah, I noticed. Why didn't you tell her that?" Doumeki asked.

"Because if I did, Yuko would tear me apart!" Watanuki's rant hurled spit in Doumeki's direction and he tipped his umbrella to shield himself from both saliva and Watanuki's noise. Once she was done, the umbrella came back up and they continued walking. "Besides, that ame-warishi seemed really desperate. I couldn't say no."

"Then you have to do it."

"I know that, moron!" Watanuki raised her umbrella this time, waving her other fist at Doumeki as he shielded himself again with his umbrella and plugged one of his ears. "If you were listening I was just saying that we might be in over our heads!"

"This is the place." Doumeki stopped walking.

"Huh?" Watanuki looked around the park, shaking her head to get the rain off her glasses. It was nice and big, well kept and deserted in the rainy weather. In the center of the park there was their destination, a huge flowering plant the color of purple sunsets. The pair walked to the plant and stopped in front of it, unsure of what to do next.

"What's this plant called?" Watanuki asked. "Hydrangea?"

"Hmm. And it's a big one." Both teens looked up to the top of the plant. It was sitting on a huge mound of dirt, enclosed by tiles and pavement in a big circle. The hydrangea plant itself was about four or five Doumeki's tall (about five to six Watanuki's), towering over the pair.

"I had no idea they could grow to this size." Watanuki stated in awe. "And look at that color." She pointed to a blossom cluster near the bottom that was a deep red, like blood.

"Yeah, we have these same shrubs around our temple," Doumeki explained. "I've seen white, blue pink…but red? That's a new one."

"So…what do you think she wants us to do?" Watanuki asked, taking a step away and turning around, looking across the park for a clue of some sort. She felt something, like ice cold fingers walking up her spine and the girl shivered. _Something's watching me. _She looked around, wanting to see the spirit before it surprised her.

"What's wrong?" Doumeki asked, noticing the girl's uneasiness as he crouched over the plant.

"Uh…its nothing." She walked over to him, not wanting to admit this out loud, but the closer she was to Doumeki, the safer she felt. "I kinda felt a chill, but…maybe it was my imagination."

"You can be kinda dramatic." Doumeki said.

"You want dramatic?! I'll SHOW you dramatic!" Watanuki pointed a harsh finger in the archer's face, taking her defiant lunge for the third time that day. She felt something grab her ankle. The raven looked down and saw that she'd been caught by some of the hydrangeas, the red ones."Uh…" She grunted when she couldn't take a step closer and wiggled her leg to free herself.

"Huh?"

"Hmm."

"Huh?"

"Get caught on something?" Doumeki asked as Watanuki bent down to untangle her leg.

"Yeah, and it's really on there. I can't get it off without ripping the flowers." Watanuki juggled her umbrella onto her shoulder as she pulled at the plant wrapping itself around her leg. She looked down at the blossoms holding her leg and then into the hydrangea plant. "Look! There are more red ones below!" Watanuki felt something odd about this plant, a shifting deep inside the blooms, like a living presence. She leaned in closer to get a better look when something shot out of the plant. Black swirls of aura flew into the air and made a bee line for the seer, wrapping around her body as she shielded her face from them. They closed in on her, covering up everything until there was only blackness.

Back at the shop, Yuko wondered if the pair had figured it out yet, taking a long drag from her pipe and puffing smoke into the air.

"The rain just won't stop!" Maru said, sitting out on the porch.

"Just won't stop!" Moro repeated, sitting across from her twin. Mokona sipped some tea on Yuko's table.

"What do you think?" Yuko asked. "Have the kids figured it out yet?" The witch asked.

Watanuki's eyes opened to darkness. She was lying on the ground in the same defensive position she'd been in when the black tentacles grabbed her, but the hydrangea plant was gone, the rain was gone and so was Doumeki. She was alone in the darkness, her white shadow the only company she was privy to. She looked around. Nothing was in sight, just darkness.

"What is this place?" She asked, but there wasn't anyone to answer her. She didn't know what to do and just started walking in a random direction, having nothing to orient herself she was as good as lost anyway. Her footsteps clacked round her, echoing ominously every time her foot hit the ground. She walked a little further and started smelling something. She took an experimental sniff and immediately wished she hadn't. The seer clapped her hand to her face to pinch her nose, trying to block out the stench and wrestle down her heavig stomach at the same time. "Ug, what is that smell? It smells like rotting meat and…cheap perfume?" Watanuki looked out into the darkness for the source of the smell. It was almost like she could see the ribbons of stink wafting toward her. Then she heard someone crying, the sobs echoing off the air. The raven walked toward the sound, her footsteps following her and after a few minutes, she saw a small girl crouching on the floor, her white shadow splayed out in front of her as she cried. The girl had her hands over her eyes, her tears falling on her white and pink dress. She was young, maybe seven or eight at the most, and her short brown hair was pulled into two twin tails on top of her head, her bangs held back by barrettes. Looking at the girl, Watanuki's maternal side felt bad for such a small child and came up to bat.

"Hey, what's wrong?" The seer asked, her voice calm and smooth, just like her own mother's when she'd been upset.

"I can't go." The girl sobbed, not looking up. "But I know I need too and I'm running out of time!" She wasn't making any sense, but it didn't matter. Watanuki knelt down next to the girl and smiled softly.

"Are you lost? Where do you live? I can help you." The girl rushed the seer, her small arms wrapping around the teen's small breasted chest and burying her face in Watanuki's jacket.

"I don't need to go to my house!"

"Okay then, where?" Watanuki asked, her arms wrapping the girl into a hug.

"It's just…I don't want to go there alone!" The girl's head popped up and the seer saw her cute face for the first time. "I guess I'm too scared." The girl tried to wipe the tears out of the eyes, but more replaced the ones she got rid of.

"It's okay to be scared." Watanuki said softly, rubbing circles on the child's back to calm her. "I'm scared too."

"Will you help me? If I had you, I just know I could make it." The girl sniffed, her fingers gripping Watanuki's jacket tightly. "Please." Her voice echoed around the pair. "Please come with me." The girl let go of Watanuki's chest and grabbed her sleeve, pulling her to her feet and started walking in the darkness. Watanuki was surprised at the girl's 180, she was raring to go now, her tears all but dried up as she took the raven's hand and gripped it tightly in her own.

"Okay." Watanuki said, following the girl, slightly hunched over because of their height difference.

"I'm so glad you showed up." The girl said after a little while of walking. It was odd. Watanuki could hear her footsteps as she went, but the girl's feet weren't making a sound. _She must be wearing soft-soled shoes. _"I was alone here for so long, calling out for help. But then they told me to be quiet. They told me it was useless." The girl looked back at Watanuki, tears in her big blue eyes.

"Just what do you mean by 'they?'" Watanuki asked, a little apprehensive.

"The ones who were here first. I came later and I don't think there's room for me." The girl looked away. "The thing is…I didn't end up here on my own."

"Who were the first ones here?"

"You've already met them." Silence ensued as Watanuki kept walking with the girl. She clapped her hand over her mouth as the rotting meat stench hit her full in the face, causing her nausea to come back in full force. The girl gasped and looked back at Watanuki, smiling. "This way!"

She ran forward but Watanuki's grip on her hand tightened, a fear rising up in the seer and she stopped in her tracks. The little girl was yanked to a stop too, and looked back at Watanuki with a confused look on her face.

"Hey, what's the matter?" She asked brightly. They stood together and looked into the darkness ahead.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Watanuki narrowed her eyes toward the blackness. "I think we should stop."

"But you have to go with me!" The girl was crying again, grabbing onto the seer's arm and pulling her. "I don't want to go alone! You say it's bad but I need to go!" She screamed.

"No! You cannot take her with you!" A chorus of women's voice said, falling from bright lights like the rain, one word, one voice for each light that fell. They were distorted and muffled, but they were insistent and harsh toward the girl. Watanuki didn't know what to make of them.

"Yes I can! She's coming with me!" The girl screamed back, holding on to Watanuki so tight that the teen couldn't feel her fingers anymore. More lights fell from…wherever up was in the darkness.

"Please, young woman! You must take the child with you!" They said.

"What do you mean?" Watanuki shouted up. "You just told me not to!"

"I'm scared!" The little girl shrieked, pulling on Watanuki again. "Let's go!"

"No!" The voices rained down again. "Please! Not that way!"

"Hey! I know you don't like me being under you so please, let me leave!" The girl shouted up.

"Under?" Watanuki asked, still confused.

"Stop being mean! I didn't want to come down here in the first place!" The little girl pulled Watanuki's arms so hard that the seer stumbled forward and started walking again, led by the child.

"Please! Don't let her take you that way!" The voices called, falling from above them again. "If you go that way, you won't be able to return! Heed my warning or you'll never return to the bright place!"

"I don't want to be here alone anymore!" They were running now and Watanuki realized something.

"The smell…its coming from the girl." She whispered. The little girl was still screaming.

"Don't listen to her! Once we get there you'll understand! There are so many there but it's still lonely so you have to be my friend!" The girl let go of Watanuki's hand to run on and tripped, falling to the ground. The raven caught up and helped the little girl pick herself up, the pieces all falling into place.

"I get it. This girl is…" Watanuki whispered, holding the little girl. She cried into the seer's jacket again, holding on tightly. "I think it's best if we don't go that way." Watanuki said to the little girl.

"Then, where am I supposed to go?" She sobbed, letting go of Watanuki to cover her face as she cried. Something wet hit Watanuki in the back of the head and ran under her collar and down her spine. She shivered at the cold and looked up as more drops fell from above them. There were more drops…rain, rain was falling. And something else was snaking down from the up. It was a white…ribbon. It was the same ribbon that Watanuki had in her jacket! Watanuki dug around her shirt and brought out the ribbon Wari had given her and held it in her hand. The ribbon came to life, reaching upwards towards its mate. Watanuki looked at both ribbons and stood, pointing upwards.

"We go up."

"But I don't want to." The girl sniffed.

"Well, why not?"

"Because…I'm dirty now." The girl started sobbing again, quietly letting her tears hit the ground. "I'm different from before…everyone will say I'm gross." Watanuki smiled knowingly.

"That's just silly."

"It's not silly! I know they will!" The girl wiped at her eyes again. Watanuki reached down as she knelt and took the girl's hands tightly, lovingly in her own.

"I don't think you're gross." She said, a sad, comforting smile on her lips. "Come on. Let's go." They both stood and the little girl grabbed onto her waist again, with her free arm, hiding her face but holding on tightly. "'Kay, here we go." Watanuki held up her stretching ribbon higher and the ends snaked to each other and connected. The long ribbon grew taut and Watanuki gripped it tightly as the pair was pulled up through the darkness.

Watanuki opened her eyes, the raindrops on her glasses making it hard to see. She was lying face down under the hydrangea plant, the purple-blue flowers surrounding her. Rain splattered on her skin, soaked her clothes. There was a fresh scent all around her with a hit of that sweet rotting scent. It was fine. The smell wasn't as strong now, even if it was right next to her. Watanuki turned her head and smiled softly again.

"Thank you for coming with me. It must've been awful to be alone for so long, but you don't have to be anymore. You can rest now." Watanuki was looking at her hand, the one tightly clutching the last three fingers of the little girl, her wrist and arm bones half buried in the dirt under the flowers. She squeezed what was left of the girl's fingers and palm one last time before her other arm was yanked above her head. Watanuki gasped and noticed that she was still holding the ribbon Wari had given her. She looked up, following the ribbon to the dirty hand, up the dirt clad arm, to the dirty shoulder and neck all the way up to the dirt streaked face of her rival and reluctantly tolerated companion.

"Uh, Doumeki!" She snapped, sitting up. Then she looked around and noticed that it was so dark out, and the street lights were are. "Hey! What the-!? Why's it so dark?"

"You idiot." Doumeki said crossly. This time some of his emotions did come through his voice and it surprised Watanuki.

"Huh?"

"Nevermind. I'm tired." He sighed, sitting down in the dirt.

"You're tired!?" Watanuki hissed, "I'm the one who did all the work!"

"Well, you'd be tired too if you'd been standing in the rain for hours. Ten exactly." Watanuki looked up and saw that Yuko was standing next to the pair under her huge purple umbrella. She'd changed clothes into a high collared purple robe with grey under robes and had pulled the top of her hair back with a huge red flower. Mokona jumped onto her shoulder as a way of announcing its presence.

"Ten hours?!" Watanuki gasped incredulously. "Wait. What are you doing here, Yuko?" The witch ignored the girl and knelt by Doumeki, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"You did very well." They shared a look that Watanuki was not a part of and she felt like she was missing the pieces again.

"Huh?" And that's when Watanuki realized how wet she was, how much she ached and how cold she was (and it wasn't just from the rain). She shivered, wrapping her arms around herself and tried to stand, to get somewhere dry. But her body was handicapped by the cold (she didn't have great balance to begin with) and her foot slipped in the mud and she toppled over into Doumeki.

"Ow. Watch it." The brunette said as the girl fell on him, but she couldn't concentrate on him when she felt like a block of ice.

"I-its s-s-so c-c-c-co-o-old…" She stuttered, her teeth clacking together as her body convulsed in shivers. Doumeki was instantly rolling her into his lap and holding her hand, all signs of his supposed tiredness gone.

"She's freezing." He stated, turning to Yuko and holding Watanuki closer to him even though he was just as wet as she was.

"Well, after what she went through I'm honesty not surprised." Yuko sighed. "Come on. We need to get you two into a bath." Watanuki completely agreed and tried to stand up but her attempts were thwarted when Doumeki scooped her into his arms princess-style.

"H-hey! L-l-let g-g-go of m-m-me-e-e!" She protested, banging a weak fist against the archer's broad chest.

"You can barely stand and you can't stop shivering. Give it a rest." Doumeki shot back. Yuko walked over with the brunette's umbrella open and Watanuki's closed under her arm. The witch held the umbrella over both of them and layered her own on top so they could all walk along in relative dryness. Watanuki was about to protest about being carried again, but decided against it. Even if he had been sitting out in the rain for ten hours, Doumeki was still warmer than her by a little bit and it was nice not to have to walk in the rain for a while.

"Fine." She huffed, masking her relief behind irritation. "Just this once." Yuko smiled coyly and the three of them started making their way back to Doumeki's house.

It was a long walk and Doumeki almost dropped Watanuki several times as he stumbled through his exhaustion, but seeing Watanuki shivering in his arms kept the archer going and Watanuki didn't complain vocally when he stumbled, just happy to be carried by something slightly warmer than the rain. Once they finally made it back to the temple, Doumeki let Watanuki have the first bath, carefully depositing her in the wash room and showing her where everything was before backing out to go dry off a little so he didn't drip all over the floor. Watanuki nodded as he left and slowly peeled off her wet clothes and plopped them into the corner by a drain and dumped bucket after bucket of warm water over her frozen body. She shivered with the sudden change in temperature and washed herself carefully before sinking into the hot bath for a needed soak. The warmth melted into her skin down to the bone and she felt better after fifteen minutes. But then Yuko had to show up and start teasing her about being carried about Doumeki and how she was taking so long in the bath because she wanted to look good for the archer and finally Watanuki snapped back at her to be quiet and got out of the bath, her relaxing time ruined by the woman's pesky presence. Watanuki dried off and hung up her clothes (careful to hide her lacy underwear where Doumeki couldn't see it) and slipped into the dry yukata that Doumeki had provided her with.

The seer came out of the bathroom in all her blue clad glory and ran right into Doumeki's still-damp form. The seer couldn't even look him in the eye as she nodded her thanks and ran off to find Yuko, still tripping over her own feet from exhaustion. Doumeki didn't say a word, but watched her go with a look of concern and relief shining in his eyes.

Yuko was in one of the many rooms in the temple, sipping a can of beer and eating pizza, waiting for her employee while listening to the still falling rain from the open porch. Watanuki sat down and threw a towel over her hair to finish drying off as she started to tell Yuko what had happened.

"And then, out of nowhere these huge shadows shot out from under the hydrangea and suck me into it. I didn't know so much time had passed. To me, it only felt like ten minutes or so." The seer said from under her towel. She yanked it off her head and just knew her hair was in a fly-away mess.

"And yet, it's one in the morning." Yuko stated, looking at the clock on the wall.

"That little girl was all alone there. What was that place anyway?"

"The border between this world and the beyond. A rest stop for lost souls." Yuko informed the girl solemnly.

"That horrible smell…that was death, wasn't it?" Watanuki asked, her stomach turning at the thought of that horrible place.

"I'm afraid so. Though you visited what is often called the world of the dead, it is better described as a collecting point, one of many scattered throughout the afterlife. The place beyond held the souls that trap, harm or cause the death of others." Mokona took a huge gulp of alcohol out of its can to break the ominous talk and popped some snap peas into its mouth.

"Why would a child end up there?" Watanuki asked.

"You say she begged you to come with her, right? She wanted you to lead her into the world of the dead because she was lonely. She almost killed you." What Yuko said shocked Watanuki, her freezing body and stiffness after her adventure now making sense. _I was almost killed. _

"I see." Watanuki sighed, her eyes drifting to the floor as she thought.

"Even though she may have been unaware, murder is as serious an offense to the dead as it is for the living. That voice that warned you about following her, that voice that called out to you in the darkness…that was the hydrangea."

"A flower?" Watanuki asked, thinking about the golden lights that fell in the blackness. "That's what was responsible for restraining us?" She then remembered the flowers wrapping themselves around her ankle before she'd been pulled under. "So it was trying to save the girl as well."

"Yes, but it wasn't only the hydrangea helping." Yuko pointed a finger at the girl. "Doumeki was there too."

"Yeah, whatever." The girl said after a pause in the conversation, putting on her dumb face.

"Watanuki WAKE UP!" Yuko said, her voice rising as she grabbed Mokona and smacked the pork bun on the seer's head. "You were close to dying out here and yet, miraculously here you sit, alive! How do you reconcile that?" Yuko was upset and Watanuki had never seen her this way before. It was kind of scary since the witch was calm or mischevious most of the time.

"Water droplets started falling from above and then I looked up and saw a ribbon."

"The one holding the other end of that ribbon was Doumeki. By the time I arrived, he'd been working for hours. From the moment you'd disappeared, he'd been digging below the hydrangea, tirelessly, disregarding his own safety. He'd feared that you'd been buried alive." Yuko tried to impress upon her charge the seriousness and devotion that the boy had shown to her, remembering Doumeki discouraged face and worried eyes when she'd walked up to him in the rain, his umbrella tossed aside like his own well being. He'd only been thinking about Watanuki.

_Yuko stood in front of the hydrangea plant, watching Doumeki kneel in the dirt and scoop handfuls of dirt out of the ground, looking for Watanuki. He stopped when he noticed the woman's presence and looked at her, worry etched into his eyes, his body. _

_"__No matter how far you dig, you won't find her, Doumeki." Yuko said, smiling softly. "At least, not that way."_

_"__Then what am I supposed to do?" He asked, his voice weary from work. Doumeki wasn't normally one to ask other people for help or advise, he was the one supporting others, this concession illuminating just how worried he was about the girl. _

_"__Do you still have the ribbon?" Yuko asked. Doumeki dug into his pocket and pulled it out, the white cloth pristine in his dirt encrusted hand. _

_"__If Watanuki still has hers then you are connected. Simply hold it and she will find her way back to you. Until then, can you wait for her here?" Doumeki's answer was simple: he knelt back down, getting comfortable for what would turn out to be a very long, agonizing wait for both of them. Yuko stood next to him, watching and waiting for Watanuki to come back. _

"You mean he sat out there, for ten hours?!" Watanuki asked. Shocked by her classmate's actions.

"Yes, in the rain, his arm still injured from your last scrape. And I never once heard him complain. You owe him your thanks." Yuko sipped her beer. The door slid open and the devil himself came waltzing in after his bath, a towel slung around his shoulders. Watanuki looked over at the boy and then looked away as he shut the door behind him.

"The police confirmed the girl's identity. Her clothes match a description filed in a report last year." Doumeki informed the two women and one fur ball.

"Good. Sounds like the police have all the evidence they need to close the case." Yuko nodded as she spoke. "Finally, her troubled soul can be free, her remains unearthed and properly laid to rest. That little girl's spirit should be able to find the peace it needs to move on."

"Yeah, at last." Watanuki sighed. Doumeki held out something to Yuko, an amulet with a crescent moon and a bat flying through it.

"This amulet belonged to my grandfather. It should cover your fee." Yuko handed the object to Yuko and she deposited it in her robes.

"Hmm, I believe it is more than adequate." Yuko hummed happily. Consider your debt paid for telling you about the ribbon." Watanuki watched the exchange and then turned away in a huff, the fact that Doumeki had to pay a price to find her disturbing and pricked her heart in an uncomfortable way. Mokona hopped over to Watanuki and poked the girl in the arm.

"Nudge, nudge!" It poked. Watanuki glanced behind her shoulder with an annoyed look and saw Yuko looking back.

"Say 'thank you!'" She prompted quietly, a hand over her mouth and a smug look on her face. Watanuki snorted and Mokona jabbed her in the chin this time for emphasis.

"Come on! Just do it already, Watanuki!" The fur ball teased. Watanuki turned to look at Doumeki.

"Something to say?" He asked pointedly.

"I-ah…I was just…pa! Paa-ya-tha-than-yayayayaya!" Watanuki was physically unable to get the words out for her sworn enemy and just started making strange noises whist flailing around. Doumeki just turned away and plugged his ears.

"I thought if I came by you'd be completely wiped out by your adventures, but I guess I underestimated your stamina." The group looked outside to see Ame-Warishi standing out in the rain in her Goth Lolita dress, hand on her hip and umbrella on her shoulder. "Thank you. You did great." She smiled warmly as a surprise.

"You're very welcome." Watanuki walked over to the railing, careful not to get wet again as the rain sprite walked near her. "I'm just glad that I could find her down there. I guess…you must've really cared for her to have gone through all this trouble."

"You must've misunderstood me." The nice smile was gone and the old Ame-Warishi was back, haughtiness and all. "Why should I care about a stupid human?" Watanuki's eyes widened in shock. "All I cared about was the hydrangea. It has the special distinction of being a spirit flower which helps balance and govern the rain. It's a rare and perfect gift that you humans take for granted and it deserves my protection. The hydrangea's petals were turning red from the blood of that girl's corpse. The filth of a corpse is deadly poison to a spirit flower. I had to get rid of her."

"So to you, the girl was just-" Watanuki started.

"The enemy." Ame-Warishi finished harshly.

"I see." Watanuki said sadly.

"Humans never help us, so why should we help them?" The rain sprite was serious. "All they do is get in the way and destroy things they don't understand." Watanuki looked at her, wondering how someone, even a spirit, could think so low of another being, a whole group of people. "Don't worry, I'll settle my payment to you shortly." Ame-Warishi was looking at Yuko now.

"Fine." The shop owner replied. The rain sprite walked out into the garden and folded up her umbrella with a flourish. Starting at her feet, the girl's body disappeared, turning into raindrops before vanishing. Watanuki watched her go, sad that the conversation ended on such a sour note. Ame-Warishi spoke again when her droplets got up to her waist.

"Ug." The sprite groaned. "I don't know why, but for some reason, Yuko thinks you're the exception." She said mysteriously.

"Huh?" Watanuki pointed at her dumbfounded face with her finger as the girl continued to disappear. "Wait!" The sprite vanished with that cocky smile on her face and left a very confused Watanuki sitting on the floor. "Hey, Yuko! What was that about!?" The girl asked as she turned around.

"Cheers!~" Mokona and Yuko called, clinking beer cans. Somehow, the food in the room magically multiplied and Doumeki was snacking as he opened his first can of beer.

"What did she mean that I was the 'exception?'" Watanuki pleaded, getting on hands and knees in her frustration and then sitting up to run her hands around her head. "Come on! Just tell me already! Why won't you tell me?! I need to know!" This time she really was crying.

"Ah! This beer is delicious!~" Yuko complimented Doumeki as she sipped her new can.

"Oh yeah! And the edamame is great too!" Mokona agreed. Watanuki was still freaking out over Ame-Warishi's last words when all three of them called for more food and alcohol.

"Silly little girl! You really are a crybaby!" Yuko teased.

"Just like Nobita." Doumeki finished. "Couldn't agree more."

"Poor Watanuki!~" Mokona drawled as the girl rolled around on the floor in her own little world of distress and never getting her way.

Several hours later, after Yuko, Mokona and Doumeki were done partying; the witch and the fur ball went home tipsy and Watanuki was left to change back into her, now dry, school uniform and get ready to leave. She was in one of Doumeki's many bathrooms, pulling on her troublesome skirt and buttoning up her gray jacket when she heard footsteps outside the room stop at the closed door. She turned to the mirror in the bathroom and grabbed her spare hair elastic to put her raven locks back up into its customary pony tail.

"Did you need something?" She asked irritably. She'd been dragged through the rain on multiple occasions today, soaked, yanked under a plant with a dead girl, soaked again, teased in the bath, scolded and kept up to all hours of the night/morning – or whatever time it happened to be now.

"No. Just checking on you." Doumeki said from the other side of the door. Watanuki's temper prickled at the invasion of privacy.

"I don't need to be baby sat. I'm not falling into anything else to day if I can help it, so you can just go away, you jer-wah!" Watanuki tripped over her borrowed clothes (which she'd left on the floor) and tipped backwards, falling into the empty bathtub despite her earlier words, and crashing painfully on her elbows and ass. "Ow!" She yelped. Doumeki was in the room in an instant, taking stock of the situation and grabbing Watanuki's wrist to pull her out of the tub.

"You were saying?" He asked, his eyes holding a mischievous gleam even as his face was a dead pan. Watanuki looked up and blushed.

"S-s-shut up, pervert! What if I was naked?!" She snapped yanking her wrist out of his hold and rubbing her sore backside. They stood there in silence for a moment, maybe six inches apart and Watanuki couldn't help but notice that Doumeki had a appealing scent – a mix of lemons (his family's body wash, since Watanuki smelled like lemons too) green tea and sandal wood and something fresh she couldn't quite identify. It was a pure scent, just like Ame-warishi had said. Watanuki was shorter than Doumeki so right now she was looking at his broad chest, inches away from those hard muscles that all the girls in school went gaga over. His archery practice really helped define his chest and arms and Watanuki knew that already, she'd just never been this close to them before. _I really should thank him for helping me. He did sit in the rain for ten hours, waiting for me to come back. I should do something…_she thought, trying to distract herself from muscles.

"What do you want?" The asked softly, blushing slightly.

"Huh?" Doumeki asked, not understanding the question.

"W-well, last time you helped me I started making lunches for you every day." She said, her voice still quiet like someone could overhear them at any moment. "So, is there something you'd like, f-for today?" She blushed even redder, bowing her head more so he couldn't see it. Callused fingertips were at her chin, pulling her head up to look their owner in the face. Watanuki's blue eyes met Doumeki bronze ones and they just looked at each other for a moment. Then Doumeki's hand moved away and tapped his cheek.

"A kiss. Here." His voice was deep and dead serious.

"Wha?!" Watanuki gasped, her voice suddenly gone. Doumeki tapped his cheek again, insistent.

"Just once."

Watanuki blushed deeper, her anger at him fighting with her embarrassment. _Where did this come from?! That ass! _Watanuki bit her lip, and Doumeki looked at her biting her lip. His eyes bore into her, and he leaned in slightly closer while she leaned slightly away as he moved closer. _I know I said I wanted to do something for him but…but…anything but this! _Doumeki kept watching her and Watanuki's face got redder and redder as the seconds passed, her heartbeat speeding up by his odd request and sheer proximity to his body.

"Fine! Just once!" She yelped, uncomfortable and hot in the situation. If Doumeki ever smiled, she was sure he'd be smiling now. Grinning like a sick bastard, more like it. But he just tipped forward a little bit and waited for his kiss. Watanuki clenched her fists in resolve and glared at the cheek she was supposed to kiss. Two seconds, three seconds, four seconds passed as she wrestled with her pride and dislike of the archer and then nodded in decision. She stood up on tip toe to reach his cheek, screwed her eyes shut and puckered her lips for the quickest kiss of all time. Only Doumeki was quicker.

In less than a second, his hand came up to Watanuki's jaw, ear and neck, controlling her movements and turned his head so that their lips met. Watanuki's eyes shot wide open in shock as their mouths meshed in a surprisingly heated kiss and she struggled to pull away. But Doumeki wasn't having any of that and snaked his free arm around her waist, pulling the raven right up against his body in a fierce embrace. Watanuki pushed against him, her arms pounding against the archer's strong body but she was trapped, making disgruntled noises to voice her protest as Doumeki's lips moved against hers. After what seemed like an eternity (which in actuality was only about five seconds), Doumeki released a furious Watanuki (although he didn't want to) and prepared for the onslaught.

"You asshole!" She screeched. Doumeki plugged his ears and leaned away from the seething girl. "You slippery, stealing, horrible excuse for a human being!" She yelled, digressing into a tangle of indistinguishable curse words and insults, all directed at the archer.

"You said I could have something, so I took something." Doumeki stated calmly, a ghost of a smile on his lips.

"It was supposed to be on the _cheek_!" Watanuki screamed, waving her fists at the boy.

"I changed my mind."

"Like HELL you did! You planned that from the start, _didn't you_?!" Watanuki fumed. "It doesn't matter!" The seer waved her hand in a harsh cut off. Watanuki didn't want to hear anything from Doumeki as she stormed out of the room and down the hallway. "My first kiss – the one I was saving for _Wari_ – was just stolen by that jerkass bastard!" She muttered to herself, unaware that the jerkass bastard was following her.

"So that was your first kiss? Good." Doumeki said, startling Watanuki out of her thoughts and causing her to jump ten feet into the air. Good thing the temple's ceilings were high. Doumeki had a sudden smug satisfaction that not only had he successfully gotten a kiss from Watanuki, it was her _first_ kiss.

"Don't do that!" Watanuki snapped, referring to sneaking up behind her. "And it is _not_ good! That wasn't for you!" She hissed.

"But I'm glad I got it." He replied, unfazed. Watanuki's retorted died on her lips, the archer's frankness stunning her.

"Uh-I-wha-" She couldn't string a coherent sentence together, her brain shutting down from the stress of her tiring day and the fact that she couldn't do anything with the Doumeki problem. She just stuck her tongue out at him and stomped out of the temple, grabbing her umbrella on her way and opening it. She scurried off into the rain, leaving the whole awkward mess behind her

Later that night (or was it morning?), Watanuki was lying in bed thinking (and fuming) over the kiss. She brought her fingers up to touch her mouth, her other hand wandering over her neck and cheek where Doumeki had held her steady and her waist still seemed to burn where his arm had pulled her closer. _Why did that asshole do that anyway?! I don't even like him! _She grumbled to herself, rolling over on her futon and growling, her fingers still lingering over her lips, her heart beating excitedly.

In his own room, Doumeki was lying on his back, staring at his hands. _I kissed Watanuki today. _He smiled ever so slightly, the corners of his mouth flipping up before snapping back down into his usual dead pan. He could still feel her skin on his fingertips, her body pressed against his as she struggled underneath his hold. She was annoying to be sure, but sweet and kinder than anyone expected her to be. And she always kept her promises. She was still making him lunch every day and she consented to his second request for helping her. Now Doumeki just had to think of what else to ask for next time he saved Watanuki's ass.

"What should Watanuki give me next?" Doumeki whispered to himself, putting a lot of thought into the matter.

Watanuki sneezed in her apartment, shivering under her blankets and hoping that she was coming down with a cold instead someone talking about her. If it was Yuko, it meant more work. If it was Doumeki, it was probably something perverted or downright weird. If it was Wari…fantastic! But that last one wouldn't happen in a million years because Wari was just too oblivious to Watanuki's advances. The girl sighed and really, _really_ hoped she was coming down with a cold. If she was sick, Yuko couldn't complain about her not cooking (and getting _her_ sick) because it was her stupid errand that got her into this whole mess. And if it was Doumeki…she was going to slap him. Watanuki sneezed again.

"Damn it!"

To be continued…

A/N: And that's a wrap! This has been the most enjoyable chapter yet to write so I hope you liked it as well! See you next time! :3

Note 1: Ginza is a major, popular upscale shopping district of Tokyo. It is full of internationally renowned department stores, boutiques, restaurants and is recognized as one of the most luxurious shopping districts in the world. It has the highest concentration of western shops in Tokyo and houses many leading flagship stores and fashions houses of the world. For example: Sony, Chanel, Carolina Herrera, Doir, Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Apple all have stores and/or flagship shops there. Interestingly enough, each Saturday from noon until 5 pm, the roads are closed off to traffic, allowing pedestrians to walk freely in the streets as they shop. This is called Hokosha Tengoku or Hokoten (for short).

Note 2: "Hana" in the Japanese language means "flower," so Hana-Hana's username is literary "Flower-Flower." This name also corresponds to her pink flower desktop.

Note 3: Yuko is referring to the manga/anime series _Doraemon_ (first published in 1969), and the second main character in the series Nobi Nobita, a fourth/fifth grader who wears a yellow polo, shorts and has glasses. In this scene Yuko compares Watanuki's likeness to this character and the fact that he looks like he's been crying out in the rain, similarly to how Nobita sobs at least once every episode in his own series due to his crybaby personality.


	6. The Monkey's Paw and The Red String

A/N: Hey, Howdy, Hey! ZareEraz here with an update! Sorry once again for this being a week late, but at least you didn't have to wait a month for an update! Teehee. I hope you enjoy these two fun filled episodes and don't forget to review! :3

Chapter Five: The Monkey's Paw and the Red String

"It's lovely. A perfect day for cleaning the warehouse, don't you think?" Yuko asked, lounging on the porch with some miso soup and a snack to tide her over from breakfast. She uncrossed and re-crossed her legs under her purple kimono and sipped her soup. The birds chirped and the witch made sure not to spill anything on her kimono or orange obi. "Relaxing." She sighed.

"Sure it is!" Watanuki hissed, walking by with another of Yuko's countless chests from the storehouse. There were tarps all over the yard, spread out like a picnic blanket with all the odd objects from storage strewn all over. It looked like the warehouse had thrown up everywhere. Watanuki put down the latest trunk and sighed, putting her hands on her hips. She'd changed into some black slacks and a white shirt after school for cleaning and finished off the housewife look with her apron and head cloth. "Look at all this! How much junk can you possibly fit into that warehouse?!"

"Let's see…" Yuko said, thinking while tapping her chin with one slender finger. "A lot!"

"YEAH I THINK I NOTICED THAT!" Watanuki shouted, waving her cloth duster in the air. "Do you realize that you're a pack rat!? You don't even need half this stuff anyway!" Yuko just smiled her I-drank-three-bottles-of-sake-while-you-were-out smile and it ticked the raven off. She spun around the randomly opened a box. "Porcelain dishes thrown into a box at random and there's dust covering everything! If you're going to keep all this stuff can't you at least TAKE CARE OF IT?!" The girl started wacking the objects around her with an old gray kimono coat and then took to the cleaning with a vengeance, her duster acting out her frenzy as a cloud of dust rose into the air. "De-de-de-de-de!" Yuko just watched, a sweat drop running down her head.

"Hey! What is this?" Watanuki asked grabbing a weird black ball.

"Mokona!~" The pork bun unwrapped with a pop and Watanuki screamed in surprise and threw the creature high into the air. The fur ball came crashing down and started hopping around the menagerie of objects cackling at the flailing girl.

"What are you doing in there?! You could break something!" Watanuki chased after the mokona, determined to catch it and roast it.

"Ha! Ha!" Mokona taunted. Watanuki ran after it, passing by Maru and Moro beating dust out of a rug with Yuko's red bat and Fai's blue and gold wing staff. She caught the fur ball as it jumped into the air and nearly squeezed the life out of it when it cackled at being caught. Watanuki looked up and saw the twins with the rug a few moments later. They were dressed in their summer attire: both in short dresses with their respective angle and devil theme and neither was wearing shoes or socks.

"Hey! Be careful! You'll damage it if you hit it too hard!" Watanuki cautioned the twins. And then she noticed that one of the white butterflies decorating the red rug was flying around. Maru would take a swing at the butterfly with the red back and then her pink haired twin would try to catch it with the staff, both girls missing with each swing. "It's moving!" Watanuki stared wide-eyed at the butterfly.

"You can't blame it," Yuko said, walking over. "I'm sure the butterfly just doesn't want to be hit."

"I understand, " Watanuki started, waving the hand that wasn't holding Mokona. "It's just that normal patterns on carpet don't move." _But nothing about this place is normal, _she thought. _I should not be surprised, I should be used to things like this by now! _

"Well, yes, but I got it as compensation for a job a while back. I do hope the butterfly doesn't escape. Then it will just be a normal carpet again." Yuko said, pouting just a tiny bit.

"Do you own anything normal?" Watanuki asked bluntly, looking at the spread of boxes and vases and chests that littered the courtyard. "Or is everything like that?"

"That depends on what you mean by 'like that.'" Yuko and Watanuki's eyes panned around the storehouse's contents. "My storehouse is out of the ordinary, yes." The butterfly in the carpet got fed up with bats and staffs being swung at it and decided to float off the carpet, peeling its existence into the air and fluttering away. The twins ran after it, trying to pin it down and laughing the whole time.

"Then don't you think you should be taking better care of it?" Watanuki asked with a disdainful gaze, swiping her finger across a box and rubbing off the dust that clung to her skin.

" I do maintenance once in a while."

"Like this?"

"Calm down. All of these things are just here to rest. To wait for the time when they will be needed to change hands again." Yuko and her slave looked at the lamps, vases, boxes, bottles, books, chairs and other assorted objects and Watanuki was once again astounded by how much junk the witch had hung on to. "I provide them with temporary housing, that's all."

"Housing?" The girl asked.

"Yes, that's right." Yuko picked up a compact and clicked it open. Inside was a beautiful black butterfly design, much like Yuko herself. "Most of these things will pass onto other people eventually. Whether or not their new owners are prepared or not for what they will receive." The witch finished up ominously, staring into the compact.

"Excuse me?" A woman's voice called from behind the pair and the mokona. Yuko and Watanuki turned to see who it was. She was a brunette, wearing a green, three-quarters sleeved shirt and white pants. She looked familiar to Watanuki, but the girl couldn't place her. "I was wondering if I could take a look at these things here. I'm doing a study of folklore and I visit antique shops and individual homes for material. I understand that people are reluctant to part with antiques, but I can learn a lot just by looking at them for a while. That's why I stopped by: to have a look. I won't be a nuisance."

"Of course," Yuko said, taking a few steps forward, smiling mysteriously. "I never stand in the way of that which is inevitable." Watanuki's eyes widened at Yuko's favorite word not dealing with alcohol. _I always get a bad feeling when she uses inevitable in a sentence. It makes me think that something bad's going to happen or its one of those "life lesson" times. _"So which object caught your attention?" The lady instantly walked over to a small, wooden dresser and picked up the object sitting on top of it. It was a bluish-white tube with a cord knotted around the top and flowering designs raised on the surface.

"This one!" She exclaimed, holding the object with both hands. "What is it? Do you know?"

"What do you think it is?" Yuko asked, her feline voice purring.

"It looks like some sort of artifact, but I can't be sure." The woman turned the tube this way and that, studying it and then shook it, hearing a rattling inside. "Is there something inside of it?"

"Yes." That was Yuko's warning voice, the voice that she used on Watanuki when she was in a bad mood or the one she used for those life lesson moments.

"Do you think I could borrow this for a few days? I can't help but feel that there's something special about it!"

"I'd advise you against it." Yuko cautioned.

"Oh," the woman's face dropped. "Is it very valuable?" Her eyes were shining with a curious light, and the obvious disappointment on her face did nothing to curb it.

"No, it's not." Yuko shook her head. "Not really. You may borrow it, but listen to this warning and listen carefully: don't open it. Don't ever look inside." The woman thanked Yuko profusely and whisked herself away after saying goodbye. And then Yuko pestered her employee to get back to cleaning and Watanuki reluctantly obeyed, grumbling the whole time she's dusting and wiping down all of the witch's stuff. The sun climbed into the sky and then sunk down below the buildings of Tokyo as the day dragged on. As the sky turns orange with sunset, Watanuki looked up from trudging back and forth from the garden to the storehouse and then looked at Yuko. The witch was smoking her pipe, the ashtray set next to her thigh.

"Do you think she'll listen?" Watanuki asked, thinking about their visitor from earlier that day. Yuko turned her head towards the seer. "I mean that woman from earlier. Do you think she'll open it?"

"Who knows?" Yuko replied, setting down her pipe. "Could you tell? Were you able to sense the presence inside that container?"

"Nope. Not at all." She answered.

"Good. Then at least I know it was sealed properly."

"You think there's something dangerous inside it?" Watanuki asked, her concern showing through her voice. "Then don't you think we should let her know exactly what she's getting into?"

"It's only dangerous if she doesn't heed my admonition. If she does open it, then I'm afraid she's on her own. I gave her a warning. But she's the type of person who never learned how to listen." Watanuki nodded and then continued walking back and forth between the garden and storehouse, putting Yuko's treasure trove back into the building, hopefully a little more organized then when she first saw it. Of course, Watanuki didn't know how she'd organized the collection, but it didn't really matter, everything fit back inside and that was most of the job anyway. She cooked Yuko's dinner with minimal fuss and left the shop for the evening, walking home just as the stars twinkled on. The next day, her class was on cleaning duty for their floor after school and she'd gotten stuck cleaning the hallway with Doumeki.

"Don't think I'm out here with you because I want to be!" Watanuki snarled as she grabbed the broom and stalked into the hallway. "I'm still mad at you for kissing me!" She hissed, softly enough that only Doumeki could hear her. _Imagine if anyone else knew! I'd be targeted by all of his fangirls and I'd never live it down because I've professed to just about everyone in the school how much I hate him! _

"The thought never crossed my mind." The archer replied, but the glint in his eye told her otherwise.

"Yeah, I bet it didn't!" Watanuki turned with a huff, her green skirt flying up behind her and started sweeping. "Just get to work." Doumeki shrugged at the girl's rude attitude and started wiping the windows down, always staying within four feet of her sweeping. He shut up and she shut up and Watanuki quickly forgot that Doumeki was there, instead, she opted to hum to herself, backing up with sweep the hallway. She kept walking backwards until she hit something…well, actually, _someone_, knocking whatever was in their arms to the floor and letting the broom she was holding clatter to the floor as well.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Watanuki apologized as she bent down to pick up the fallen books and notes.

"Oh, hi! It's you!" Watanuki looked up, the voice talking to her sounding very familiar. It was the brunette from yesterday, only this time she was in a blush pink women's suit and skirt and looked like a teacher. "You were at the shop I went to yesterday!"

"Uh huh." Watanuki said, confused by the woman's presence.

"So I guess this is your school! I start tomorrow as a student teacher. What a coincidence!" The lady stood up and the seer stood up too, handing back the books she'd knocked out of the woman's hands. "Small world, huh?" Watanuki just nodded dumbly. "I'm so glad I happened to pass by that shop yesterday."

"Yeah, wu-yeah." Was all the raven could manage, hardly getting in a word edgewise. The woman searched around her bag for a moment and pulled out the container from yesterday.

"This artifact drew me in somehow. I still don't know what's inside, but it feels like it has its own energy." Her words triggered Watanuki's worries from yesterday, her eyes narrowing in worry, her eyebrows knit with concern.

"Yeah, I just wanted to say-" Watanuki started, but was cut off by the woman's cell phone going off. She reached into her bag again and opened the phone, taking the call and ignoring the girl in front of her.

"Hello? Yes, professor. Yes. I'm on my way to start on some research for my thesis." The lady walked away with her phone call. Watanuki was distracted by a pair of hands by her butt.

"What are you doing?!" She screeched, whirling towards Doumeki who had just pulled her skirt down.

"You're skirt was caught on your shirt and everyone could see you panties. The strawberries are cute." The archer didn't want anyone to see Watanuki's panties, her skirt flying up when she'd bumped into the teacher, so he'd graciously tugged the offending fabric down, only to get yelled at in the process. Watanuki blushed, but couldn't really get mad at him for peeking because he _did_ help her, but he _did_ peek and she _should_ get mad but he'd just saved her the embarrassment of having everyone _else_ see her panties besides him but-oh it was so confusing!

"What's that tube she has?" Doumeki asked, effectively distracting the infuriated raven haired girl.

"I have no idea, but she got if from Yuko's shop yesterday." Watanuki informed, worried again as the woman continued talking to her superior.

"Well, she seems eager to open it." Doumeki shrugged.

"Why's that?" Watanuki asked.

"She said she still doesn't know what's inside it. Makes it seem like she's trying to find out."

Doumeki's logic was sound and that's what worried the seer.

"Yes, I'll definitely be on time! I'll see you then!" The woman hung up the phone and Watanuki took her chance.

"Uh, excuse me…"

"I need to get going. Bye then!" The woman turned around and took off down the stairs, Watanuki's hand still outstretched towards her.

"No! Hey! Don't go!" She ran towards the stairs and swung around the corner to watch the teacher run into Wari, who was coming up the stairs at the time. They bumped into each other at the landing and the tube fell out of the woman's hand. They all watched it fly into the air and Wari reached down and caught it in his hand. Then, one of two weird things happened: the tube rippled, its appearance fluctuating and then settling back into a solid object.

"I'm sorry." Wari apologized, handing back the tube to the teacher. She took it back in her hand and then the second strange thing happened: the cord unwound itself and fell limp, the canister sliding open and releasing a cloud of black smoke that Watanuki guessed only she could see.

"It opened!" The seer gasped in horror and surprise as she dashed down the stairs.

"It's just sticks." The woman said, looking at what was inside. Watanuki saw what looked like a shriveled up, brown, wrinkly hand wrapped up in white cloth, the image of an eye sewn into the fabric. The woman's eyebrows scrunched together and then rose in surprise. "Wait! This could be a Monkey's Paw!" (1)

"A Monkey's Paw?!" Watanuki whispered, her eyes wide.

"I've seen a picture of one in a book. In folklore, it's an item that grants wishes."

"Uh, yeah, okay. But how can you be sure it's not a fake?" Watanuki asked. Doumeki walked down to where everyone else was, one hand in his pants pocket and came to stand next to Watanuki.

"I can't say for sure. At first I thought it was an ancient talisman that had been passed down for centuries but now I think it's something even more extraordinary! I'll need to do some tests to verify its authenticity, of course, but I already know in my gut that this is the real thing!"

"I wouldn't do that…" Watanuki said quietly.

"How about this: I wish for it to rain from now until tonight." The woman said, looking right at Watanuki. There was a snap from the Monkey's Paw and a sharp wind blew up, snagging leaves off the trees outside. A few seconds later, the sky darkened and a shower started. In a few minutes, it was pouring and everyone at school was complaining that they hadn't brought umbrellas today because it was sunny and they were going to get soaked. The teacher had left long ago and so had Wari, but Watanuki was still on the staircase, sitting with her head in her hands and her rival at her side.

"Oh, just go away Doumeki." She sighed.

"Are you going to be okay?" He asked back, tilting his head down to try and see her face.

"I'm not the one in trouble this time." Watanuki admitted, worried about that teacher. She sat for a few minutes longer and then stood, leaving without so much as a goodbye to her classmate.

"So, she caused this rain?" Yuko asked when Watanuki finally made it to the shop, lounging on the porch in her red and purple moon kimono as it continued to pour.

"Yeah." Watanuki answered, kneeling on the floor and toweling off her wet hair.

"Well, given the power of that object I suppose it would be easy enough to do."

"The Monkey's Paw…is it real?" The seer asked. Yuko poured herself another glass of whiskey and topped off Mokona's cup as well.

"Yes, it is. But she's not compatible with it." Yuko pick up her cup and downed the contents.

"Not compatible? So it only works for some people?"

"It grants anyone's wish, but the outcome varies. She falsely assumed she could control it."

"If she isn't able to control it…what will happen to her?" Watanuki asked, dragging the towel off her wild hair.

"That really depends on her. Whatever happens, there's no turning back for her now." Yuko finished ominously.

The next day was sunny, all trace of the rain evaporating with the good weather.

"Hello!" Watanuki sang as she slid open the door to her classroom. She received no reply from anyone, everyone in the room to busy talking about something.

"Oh, hey! How are you?" Wari asked the girl as she walked up, looking at all the clusters of students in the classroom. Watanuki smiled brightly for her crush, noticing just how perfect his white, short sleeved shirt was pressed and how cute his short curls looked to day with his radiant smile.

"Wari! Good morning! Did something happen?" Watanuki asked, looking at her gossiping classmates again.

"It's strange. All the water in the pool's disappeared." The boy answered and Watanuki walked over to the window to look outside and sure enough, the pool was empty and there was a crowd down there looking at it too.

Now, if someone had been a fly on the wall, they would've noticed that one student teacher was looking at the pool like all the others, standing outside the chain link fence and then walked off. If they would've followed that student teacher into the school and to the Music Preparation Room where all the instruments were stored, they would've noticed that she went in and locked the room behind her. Then, they would've seen her kneel on the floor and pull something out of her purse and open it. And then they would've heard her speak.

"I need to test it out again." The woman said, looking at the Monkey's Paw. "That rainstorm could've been a fluke. Something impossible…" She thought for a moment. "I know! What about the mirror I couldn't afford in the antique shop? I know there's a great history behind it but they won't come down on the price. I wish for that mirror." There was a snap and then a clank as something fell to the floor behind the woman. She turned around saw a teal shine on the opposite end of the room. She stood up and then laughed with joy as she knelt to pick up the mirror she'd wished for. It looked like a flower with a square and diamond design on the back accented with red stones. "This is the mirror! There's no doubt! This is amazing!" The woman looked at the Monkey's Paw.

"It looks like two of the fingers are broken." She noticed, the tips jutting out to the right. "I get it! For each of my wishes that the Monkey's Paw grants, a finger is broken and there are two: one for the rain and one for the mirror." _I'd advise you against it. _Yuko's voice sounded in her head, but she just shook it off. "It'll be fine. I'll show you I can handle this with no problem!" A black smoke that the woman couldn't see crept out of the tube and crawled along the floor, flooding the room with thick clouds of foreboding stink and evil aura.

Now, if that same fly on the wall was perched in Yuko's show, they would've heard the phone ring in the late morning, waking the shop's mistress from her beauty sleep. Yuko was still buried under her pillows and blankets, her pale hand snaking out to snag the phone out of its cradle by her bedside and disappearing under the blankets once again.

"Hello?" She answered sleepily. "Oh, hi! It's good to hear from you." A pause. "Yes, I had a feeling it might head your way. It flew away from here the day before yesterday. I know, I think the butterfly is just more comfortable in your shop." She was talking about the butterfly from the rug who'd escaped the day that Watanuki cleaned the storehouse. Yuko's free hand shot out of the sheets and pulled them off of her body, the witch emerging from her cocoon. "It's gone? The mirror's been stolen. I see. It must've been very difficult for someone to acquire that. Yes, of course. I'd be happy to look into its disappearance for you. I think I have a few ideas. Just be patient for a little while longer. There can be no turning back for the person responsible." Yuko said goodbye and hung up the phone.

The next time Watanuki saw the woman with the Monkey's Paw, she was standing in the hallway with Doumeki, arguing over something stupid, but she shut up once Doumeki wasn't paying attention to her and saw what he was looking at. The teacher walked up to the pair, smiling cheerfully.

"Hello again!" She greeted them.

"You seem to be in a really good mood." Watanuki commented.

"You can tell?" She asked, still smiling. The woman giggled and smiled brighter. "I got something I've been wanting for a really long time."

"What's that?" Doumeki asked.

"It's this antique mirror I've had my eye on but could never afford. I've been dying for a chance to study it." She leaned in closer to the pair, her eyes alight with a mischievous glint. "So I asked the Monkey's Paw for it." Watanuki cringed at the mention of the paw. "It was amazing! Right after I wished for it the mirror appeared! It's just like I thought: this is the real thing!"

The woman held out the paw and opened the container. A cloud of black smoke slithered out and wrapped around her and the things closest to her. Watanuki cringed again and her hand flew up to plug her nose as the stink of burned animal hair, decay and garbage reached her nose. She could feel Doumeki's eyes on her, studying her reactions.

"I noticed that whenever a wish is granted, one of the finger's breaks. Since two of them are broken, it means I still have three wishes left!" The teacher informed them, nearly giddy with excitement.

"But, wait…that's-" Watanuki tried to spit out her own warning, but Doumeki stepped in front of Watanuki, like he was trying to protect her from the evil presence of the Monkey's Paw with his pure aura.

"You know how the legend goes, don't you? Horrible things happen to whoever uses the Monkey's Paw." Doumeki stated, getting Watanuki's warning out more eloquently than she could._ Just another reason to hate him_, the seer grumbled mentally.

"Oh please, that's just another old story." The teacher smiled confidently, sliding the container shut. _That's rich, coming from someone who studies folklore! _"I've got this under control!" And with that, she turned on her heel and walked down the hallway without another word, a happy bounce in her step and two very unhappy children in her wake. Watanuki told Yuko what she had learned when she went to work later that afternoon. The witch was flower arranging in a teal and dark blue striped kimono, her hair up in a fantastic bun as she listened to the girl sitting on her floor.

"Something cannot be born from nothing." Yuko said after listening, clipping the stem of a huge pink flower and placing it on the arrangement bowl. Maru handed her the next flower, sitting with Moro by their mistress. "For every wish that must be granted, proper compensation must be paid. For everything given, something else is taken away." Moro handed another flower to Maru who handed it to Yuko.

"So you're saying the water from the pool was used to make it rain?" Watanuki asked.

"Probably. That would be my guess."

"And the mirror?"

"I received a call from a friend of mine who owns and antique shop. It seems a precious mirror of hers has gone missing. It disappeared recently from her shop." Watanuki sighed in disappointment of that teacher's behavior.

"So what do you think will happen to her? Wil she be alright?"

"You can't do anything to help her." Yuko stated firmly.

"Why not?" The witch brandished her current pink flower like a staff or a sword, pointing it at Watanuki's face harshly.

"The real question is: how long until we can eat that cake you're baking?" The girl flipped out at the reminder, standing up in a hurried mess and running out the door.

"The cake! I completely forgot about it!" She threw the doors open and ran down the hallway to the kitchen.

"Time for cake!~ Time for cake!~" Maru and Moro chanted, running down the hall after the seer. Yuko was left all alone for the moment and quietly placed the next flower in her arrangement.

"The object has been given freedom, and there is no one with the power to stop it. No owner truly owns it and there's no telling where this will end." She held up another flower right below her nose, the petals cupping her face as she sat under the butterfly ceiling of her home.

Now, pretend that that fly on the wall is back and it's in the library, watching a certain young woman with a certain artifact writing her thesis and failing at it. She's furiously scribbling on her notepad, but isn't making much progress when her phone goes off. She takes it and leaves the quiet study area for the hallway, answering her phone on route.

"Yes, things are moving slower than planned, but I'll definitely finish on time." She spoke into her phone. "No, don't worry. I've got it under control." (But her voice doesn't sound controlled or calm at all.) "Yes," she says unhappily after a particularly long pause and hangs up. The woman sighs and walks back to her desk space and her very, very short thesis paper to begin writing again. After just a few pen strokes, she's clapping her hands to her head in frustration.

"This thesis is so conventional!" She hisses, displeased with her work. She looks around, trying to calm herself and looks at her paper. _This thesis is the most important thing I have ever written. It will determine my standing in the field! I don't want it to be like every other paper on folklore! It has to be original…impressive! Like nothing anyone has ever written before! _The woman looks in her bag and sees the Monkey's Paw, just waiting for her to use it. She picks it up and if she could see it, black smoke creeps out of the canister even though it's not open. She smiles and knows exactly what to do.

The next day at school, Watanuki's class is having timed trials for running in gym and she's determined to beat Doumeki this time! They were lined up at the start point, a group kids from her class and Doumeki standing right next to her. The gun went off and the two of them are flying down the track. Watanuki used all her strength and speed to keep up and Doumeki looked like he wasn't even breaking a sweat. That pissed her off. They crossed the finish line one right after the other, Watanuki just two steps and a tumble behind Doumeki as she clumsily skidded to a stop. The girl sank to the ground, tired from the sprint and she gave a sly glance to Doumeki (who was standing up with his hands on his hips and wasn't even breathing very heavily) as Watanuki panted. She growled and was about to hiss at him when Wari walked up.

"Hey guys!" Watanuki sprang to her feet faster than the blink of an eye, smiling happily and clapped her hands together.

"Oh hi, Wari!" She gushed.

"You guys are fast!" The boy complimented, referring both to Watanuki and Doumeki (just to keep it fair).

"Oh! You saw?" Watanuki played dumb like she hadn't been trying to impress anyone. "He normally doesn't run that fast!" She pointed to the boy behind her, trying to puff herself up in front of her crush.

"Shut up. I just didn't want to make you look bad." Doumeki replied, (telling the truth this time and not just trying to rile up the seer). "I was keeping you company."

"Don't give me that, 'you're so slow you make a snail look fast' bit! I can outrun you any day!" Watanuki snapped, clenching her fists up by her neck to look threatening. Wari laughed at the two of them and he was joined by another person laughing very loudly. The trio turned and saw the lady with the Monkey's Paw giggling to herself, smiling like a lunatic in the middle of gym class.

"What's that all about?" Wari asked. The woman's phone went off in her pocket and she dashed across the track to get out of the way so she could pick it up.

"Hello?" She answered. "Yes? Right! Yes! Thanks so much, professor! Yes! Yeah. See you later!" She snapped her phone shut and grinned like a monkey that had just stolen someone else's bananas.

"Sounds like good news!" Wari commented, drawing the teacher's attention to their little group.

"My professor says he's very impressed with my thesis!" She bragged. "This is awesome! He said it was the best he's ever read!"

"Congratulations!"

"He said he's even going to show it to a publisher! If everything goes well after that I could be published by the end of the year!" She was too happy for Watanuki's taste, especially if she had an artifact that grants wishes and she's already stolen a mirror with it.

"Wow! That's great!" Wari was still cheerful, even as Watanuki and Doumeki watched, one getting m ore and more worried and the other acting impassive.

"The Monkey's Paw gave me all the materials I needed to write a truly great paper. Once I had the mirror, all it took was a little extra research!"

"Remember the legend, this may not be as good as you think." Doumeki warned softly, but the teacher wasn't listening and Watanuki was truly beginning to see (and believe) what Yuko said about her not listening.

"I only have two wishes left. I need to use them wisely."

"They Monkey's Paw looks scary." Wari commented. "Are you sure it's okay to use it? It might be really dangerous."

"It's not dangerous for me to use," The woman reassured, her ego getting in the way of her common sense. "There's a reason that I found it. I think it wants me to use it!" _Okay, did she just hear what came out of her mouth? _Watanuki checked her smiling face. _Nope. She didn't notice how creepy that sounded. _Doumeki turned his head away, his eye brows tilted in frustration and gave up trying to warn the woman. She was too far gone. But Watanuki wasn't giving up just yet.

"But, maybe you shouldn't-!" Watanuki started.

"It's fine!" _Why do people keep interrupting me?! _"Sure, it's harmed others, but it won't hurt me." Watanuki let the subject drop, the uneasy feeling inside of her roiling up into her throat as the woman walked off to help with gym class.

Now, the fly on the wall is back and this time it's with Yuko, not long after the conversation during gym class. Yuko was standing in the storehouse, looking at all of her newly cleaned treasures and thinking about the Monkey's Paw, the one that got away. She though that Watanuki did a really good job at cleaning up, even the wide walkway between shelves and shelves of the objects was swept and mopped. She smoothed out a nonexistent wrinkle in her purple dress and fixed the huge red flowing on her choker.

"Every person who has found that object thought they owned it. Unfortunately for them, it is inevitably the other way around." Yuko started walking down the storehouse's hallway, leaving the vases she was looking at to their post. "The Monkey's Paw always seeks control…and finds it. But of course, the woman doesn't realize this. She began her journey with her eyes closed…she is no longer in control of her destination." Yuko walked out of the storeroom and the little fly followed her and then escaped out a cracked window to fly above the city. The next destination it was headed too was the train station a good distance from the shop. The little fly buzzed above the crowds at the station, making sure not to get hit by someone swinging a magazine or a newspaper at it. The fly whirred over to clock and stuck to its face, looking around. It would've seen a woman dressed in yellow with gray pants running, her heels clacking on the ground. If the fly kept paying attention, the woman would skid to a halt at a specific platform and looked at her watch, frowning and biting her lip.

"Oh no! I can't believe I over slept!" She grumbled to herself, looking at the train schedule posted on the electronic boards. The green and yellow clock face read 7:26 am and the digital clock said 7:37 so something was wrong with one of them and she didn't have time to be confused about the time. _Today is the last day of classes and that means that my class is supposed to be observed by the principal. _The woman worried and then the intercom notification sounded and she listened to the announcement fearfully. Nothing else could go wrong. It just couldn't.

"The express train expecting to leave from platform one is having delays." The woman's mood plummeted, checking her watch again to calculate time. _Great, now I'm really going to be late now. _The clock moved one minute forward. The woman bit her thumbnail in agitation. _If there was an accident that delayed the train the principal would understand! I could prove this wasn't my fault and surely she'd let me pass! _A snap came from the woman's bag and her eyes widened in horror, looking down. The woman next to her took a shakey step forward and tripped, falling onto the track. It all happened int slow motion as the teacher watched it all happen, the flow of her hair, the graceful way she fell…that is, until the train hit her. Then everything sped up as the tain zoomed by, taking the unfortunate victim with it, her blood smeared all over the tracks. The train screeched to a halt as fast as it could and everyone was screaming. The teacher was still, in shock and horror. She looked down and saw a long pink heeled shoe lying on its side right next to her. She thought about the pool water, the mirror and now…

"Oh no!" She gasped, pulling out the Monkey's Paw and trembling as she held it. "Did-did that count as one of my wishes?!" She stuffed the thing back into her bag and cowered as rescue and police teams swarmed the platform in response to the accident. People were herded away and sent to other platforms for transportation as the accident was dealt with. The teaher was one of those people, corralled onto another train after being questioned and then sent on her way. She arrived to school hours late and was immediately called to the principal's office to expain her tardiness. She told the principal about the accident and why she was late, her harried and shaken appearance helping her plea. She left the office with a "Thank you for understanding," and scurried down the hallway, biting her nail again.

Watanuki, Doumeki and Wari were in the hall at the time and saw the teacher. Watanuki also saw that there were little puffs of black smoke following the woman and she clicked down the hall. The seer plugged her nose as the teacher flew by, smelling like blood and burned dog hair, ignoring Wari's greeting and disappearing around the corner.

"Something's wrong with her." Doumeki noted.

"So you can tell?" Watanuki asked, coughing.

"I can't see what you're seeing, if that's what you mean. But I can tell something's different."

"Now that you mention it, she does look worried." Wari added.

"And I think it's more than her final exams that are bothering her." Doumeki finished.

She was in the Music Room again, crouching on the ground and holding the Monkey's Paw container open, peering inside.

"There's only one left!" The teacher said as she saw the fourth finger broken. "I was only thinking it…I didn't mean for it to count as a real wish!" Her phone when off and she took it out of her bag to answer it. It was her professor. She sank to the ground and listened to what he had to say.

"Professor?" A pause. Her face dropped. "There's been a misunderstanding." Another pause. She sprang to her feet, her voice going up half and octave as the conversation went on. "No! Wait! I didn't steal anything! Yes, I was in the library that day doing research…but I wouldn't take someone else's materials!" Another pause. "It's the truth! How do you know that that paper was the original?! Have you considered the possibility that they were the one who copied from me?!" Her eyes went wide as the professor went on. "They…submitted all their notes to you…over two weeks ago?!"

The woman looked down and for the first time she saw the black smoke creeping out of the container, swirling around her hands like possessive little snake. She nearly screamed and dropped the Monkey's Paw, holding her phone tightly as the case clanked on the floor.

"Please, wait! Professor?! What about publishing?!" She was desperate to prove her innocence now, pleading that she wasn't in the wrong, still concerned about career even at this moment. He hung up, the busy signal resonating through the room, in her bones. She was finished. The teacher let her arm go limp, her cell phone crashing to the ground and skittering off. She felt an ominous presence in the room, clouding up her vision her mind.

"Does this mean that someone is going to realize that the accident this morning was my fault too?!" She whispered, horrified at the possibility. She remembered the woman at the train station bumping her shoulder and she'd gotten mad (whether the memory was true or not she believed it). "I pushed the woman standing next to me. So that means…the police are…" Her eyes were wide, her face twitched, a sort of madness overtaking her. Someone was banging on the door now, the loud knocks startling the teacher. Her eyes went even wider in fear as the banging continued. She looked at the shaking door, the hinges squeaking in protest to whoever was trying to barge in and get her. She trembled on the spot, completely terrified. _The police! They're coming to get me! _The door knob jiggled harshly, clanking and rattling as it was forced to turn this was and that.

"NO! Stop it! No more!" She screamed, grabbing her head and cowering. She glanced down and saw the Monkey's Paw sitting on the floor, out of its container. She rushed for it, snatching it off the floor and holding it up. "Do something now! This is because of you! I just want to disappear! Just make me disappear!" She yelled, commanding the Monkey's Paw to do something…anything!

The last finger snapped.

A black smoke tentacle curled out from the break as the seal bandage fall away. The Monkey's Paw fixed all its fingers and flexed them, readying for the last wish. The five fingers reached for the woman's throat, grabbing and squeezing as hard as they could. She couldn't scream, she couldn't breathe, her neck nearly snapping with the force of the paw's grip. The woman grabbed at the paw with both hands, trying to pry it off and get some air but it wouldn't let go, no matter how hard she scratched and clawed. She was running out of time, running out of air in her lungs. She fell backwards, her eyes bugging out, her face turning blue. One of her hands reached up, trying to grab anything. She tried to scream, but there was no air now. Her brain was telling her to _get air_ but she couldn't and her body convulsed on the floor in agony. Her lips were blue, her organs and lungs deprived of the oxygen they needed to function. The banging on the door continued, someone still trying to break in. She waved her hand in one last ditch effort to do something, _anything_. She was suffocating and the Monkey's Paw just gripped her tighter, snapping her neck like she'd snapped its fingers. Her hand fell, and she disappeared from the world.

Outside the room, two girls were quietly, politely knocking on the door, trying to get in. Watanuki, Doumeki and Wari were walking down that hall at the time and saw the girls.

"What's the matter?" Wari asked as they walked up.

"Isn't that door unlocked?" Watanuki asked.

"No." One of the girls replied.

"It should be open during the day," Doumeki added, shoving his hands into his pockets as Watanuki fiddled with her skirt.

"Here. Let me try." Wari walked up to the door and barely touched the knob when the door creaked open. "That's odd." Watanuki walked over and looked in. There was nothing out of the ordinary in the room, just the instruments and a cell phone somebody must've dropped. Doumeki hummed in question as he looked in too. "I wonder why it wouldn't open." Wari asked, looking at Watanuki. The girl shrugged and Wari closed the door again and walked off. They began walking down the hallway again, Doumeki ordering Watanuki to make sushi for tomorrow's lunch and the girl flew off the handle, the stress of finals and the Monkey's Paw business finally getting her to lose it.

Back at the shop, Yuko was taking a phone call.

"I see. Well, I'm glad it showed up." She said into the phone. "Alright. Goodbye." The witched hung up the phone, pleased that the missing mirror had been returned. But she did have a suspicion as to who – or what – had returned it. She walked down the hallway and into the storehouse, her purple, sleeveless dress flutterin behind her. She walked over to and empty spot on a shelf and noticed that it wasn't empty anymore.

"So, you're back." She said to the Monkey's Paw, talking hold of the open container with both hands. "It's over then. You always win in the end…don't you?" Yuko looked down at the whole paw and sighed. She lifted up her right hand and pointed, a glowing white ribbon materializing and whinding around her and the Monkey's Paw, her hair billowing with it. "People are always more likely to do something once it's been forbidden. And after they've crossed that line…there's no telling what they are capable of doing to get what it is they want. The things for which a person wishes often reveal more about them than they'd like." The ribbon moved in the air with Yuko's long locks, dipping and weaving in an intricate dance. And then it hooked onto the Monkey's Paw, wrapping itself around the artifact and pulling the rest of itself in until all of it was encasing the paw.

"Hello!" Watanuki called from the entryway, opening the door just as Yuko finished. The witch smiled and sighed, putting down the container on its stand.

"Oh well." She walked out of the storehouse and shut the doors behind her. In the darkness, the container started to move. It slid shut ever so slowly until it hit the edge of the container, and then clicked closed, securing its prize for the next owner.

_Sometimes that's just the price you have to pay. _

Nobody ever saw that student teacher ever again. It was as if she'd disappeared.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"Hi, Watanuki!" Wari said as the school bell rang for class.

"Oh hi, Wari!" The seer looked up from her school bag to greet the cute boy. "What's going on?"

"I was wondering if you knew about something called the red string of fate." The boy asked.

"Sorry? The red string of what now?" Wari held up his right pinky finger and started to explain.

"It's a theory that suggests that soul mates are connected eternally by a red string tied around their pinkies." Watanuki leaned in closer, trying to see this string that Wari was talking about, but failed to do so, even with her second sight. "It's from this book. I was reading it last night." Wari reached into his bag and pulled out the book to show Watanuki.

_A book about soul mates? _The girl wondered, striking a thinking pose with her hand on her chin, glasses glinting intelligently. _I wonder why Wari decided to show this book to me instead of one of his guy friends. Maybe because it's not very many or some such idiocy as that. _And then the perfect thought hit her. _No…could it be that this is an indirect confession?! _Watanuki blushed and clapped her hands to her face in Watanuki fashion, flowers blooming all around her as she shook her head in delight. _He's too shy to come out and say it so he disguised in a philosophical discussion! At last! Wari sees what I've always known! We're meant to be together! He's saying that our pinkies are connected by the red string of fate! _Watanuki was off in her own little world and didn't notice a disturbance in the Force until it spoke.

"The pinky has been long considered to have a direct, even mystical connection to the heart." Doumeki explained. Watanuki's happy face vanished, her smiled dropping into a pit of despair, and the twinkle in her eyes flickering out like a candle. She groaned out loud as the turned and say the boy standing next to her.

"Come on!" The girl jumped back, her arms flailing into the air as she recoiled. _Every time I make some progress with Wari, this guy shows up! _The raven was crying in bitter disappointment, hiding her tears behind her arm. Then a huge cross vein formed on her head, signaling an imminent explosion of fury and rage. "_Doumeki…_" The girl growled threateningly, her teeth raring to rip out this throat and her clenched fists ready to punch his face in. And Doumeki did what Doumeki was prone to do: keep explaining.

"It is from this connection that the idea of the red string of fate originated as that which binds certain individuals to each other." The archer finished up his explanation while holding up his pinky finger.

"That's amazing!" Wari complimented, walking over to stand near his classmate.

"Wari…!" Watanuki whimpered, tears running down her face.

"Centuries ago," Doumeki started again, "Noble women who were forced into arranged marriges would cut off their left pinkies and bestow them upon the men they truly loved." Watanuki jumped back again, horrified, and Wari's face fell.

"Ah! That's awful." The seer said, holding up her left pinky and then shoving it behind her back, her face turning blue. "They just cut them off!?"

"Yes, that way, the string that bound them to their soul mate wouldn't be betrayed. It's from this custom that the pinky promise began." Doumeki went on.

"Wow, Doumeki you sure do know a lot about this stuff? Hoping to impress some lucky girl?" Wari teased. Watanuki shuddered inside and wondered by Wari was so nice to that jerk and pitying the girl who Doumeki might be trying to impress.

"My grandfather was a priest. He used to tell me folktales and all kinds of weird stuff."

"Your grandpa? That's really cool! He must be an interesting man!" Wari smiled cutely. Watanuki's heart shriveled up and fell out of her chest. It was time to cut in on their little conversation.

"So you're saying that you believe in the red string of fate, Wari?" Watanuki asked coyly, pushing and elbowing Doumeki behind her as she took center stage with her crush. "You really believe that soul mates whose pinkies are forever connected by a bit of colored yarn?" The question was said in a slightly sarcastic, mostly serious way.

"Yep!" Watanuki fell over in disbelief, grabbing her hair like a crazy woman and gasping as she crashed to the floor.

"It might be kind of girly, but two people destined to be together for all of eternity, nothing's more romantic that that." Wari gave his cute smile again. Watanuki's head popped up.

"You're right. That's true! Of course!" Watanuki beamed as she stood up and elbowed Doumeki back another step, turning to hiss at him. "_Go away_." And then she sighed in relief, the conversation officially interrupted with her mad skills. And by mad skills…she meant clumsiness. And then Doumeki was pointing at something.

"Watanuki, your skirt's folded over again." He stated calmly. The girl's face lit up like a sunburn as she froze in place. "The pink ruffles are okay, but I think I like the blue lacy ones better."

"Doumeki _shut up!"_ Watanuki threw her hands onto her butt and yanked down her skirt. Thankfully, Wari didn't see and the class was so used to Watanuki yelling at Doumeki that none of them were really paying any attention to anything she said. The seer wheeled on the archer, glaring holes into his head and was about to rip him a new asshole when the teacher called the class to order and everyone rushed to their seats, soul mate and underwear conversations suspended for the time being.

Wari, Doumeki and Watanuki spent the lunch period outside, enjoying the warm afternoon and their short sleeved shirts to the fullest. It would've been quieter though if Watanuki stopped snapping at Doumeki for every little thing and if Wari would stop giggling at their so called "comedy routine" and agitating the seer and Doumeki only made it worse when he made his requests for tomorrow's lunch. By the end of the day, Watanuki was all Doumekied out and was glad to be rid of him as she went to her job and he was to his club practice. The only bad part was that Wari had French Club and couldn't walk with the raven haired girl. She distracted herself from this absence by going over what she needed to do at work today so Yuko didn't nag her for everything.

_Okay…so today I'll need to do laundry, and then I can get started on dinner…I wonder if she'll want – _Watanuki's train of thought was interrupted by a very loud argument involving a girl and her boyfriend. They were in the alley that Watanuki had just walked by and the girl back pedaled to see what was the matter. They man was wearing a T-shirt and jeans and the girl was dressed in a frilly yellow top and skirt. The man was clutching his briefcase and trying to touch the girl and she was having none of that.

"Would you just leave me alone!?" She yelled.

"Please! Just listen!" The man said, grabbing onto the girl's arm.

"Let go of me!" She broke his grip and started walking down the alleyway towards Watanuki.

"Just give me a chance, please?!" The man caught up to her and grabbed both of her shoulders, pulling the girl to face him.

"No, listen to me! I never want to see you again!" Watanuki carefully walked up to the pair, wanting to disrupt the dispute before someone got hurt or into trouble.

"Excuse me…" The raven started. They both looked at her, one set of eyes desperate and the other pissed off. The woman took this opportunity of distraction and broke the man's grip again, flipping her long, curly brown hair as she ran past and accidently hit Watanuki with her huge white bag. The girl stumbled back to regain her balance and looked up again to find the woman gone. She looked at the man, and he just clutched his briefcase in both arms, curled in on himself and slunk down to the other end of the alley and disappeared as well.

"Wonder what that little drama was all about." Watanuki said, shrugging and heading back on her way to Yuko's shop. Once she was there, the first thing Yuko had her do was make a snack, get some beer and then head out into the sunny afternoon to do the laundry, just like the girl predicted. She washed all the sheets and futon coverings and blankets and then started hanging them up in the yard. Maru and Moro went to take a nap after bugging the girl for a better part of an hour while washing and Mokona was the only one to hang around, hopping up and down on Watanuki shoulder as she hung up the sheets. Watanuki was almost done hanging everything up, throwing the four to last blanket onto the drying rack, straighting out one side.

"Now the other side!" Mokona ordered cheerfully, hopping up and down on the girl's apron. She wiped the sweat off her forehead and fixed her head wrap while walking to straighten the other side of the sheet.

"I'm glad this rain finally cleared up." She said as she pulled the wrinkles out of the sheet. "This whole city would've been on big puddle if it had kept up much longer." Watanuki smiled at Mokona and turned to check on Yuko, who was sitting on the porch. Or was supposed to be sitting on the porch. "Ah!"

"Wah!" Mokona joined Watanuki's gasp as they both turned to see their mistress collapsed on the porch, her arm around a pillar and her kimono in disarray.

"Uh…sooo…hot…" Yuko moaned.

"Yuko, get up!" Watanuki commanded, worried about her boss. She ran over and knelt on the steps, taking the woman's hand. "I think the head has gotten to her! Hold on, Yuko! I think you just need some water! Come on, let's go inside and get you some!" Watanuki hopped over the prone woman and nearly tripped and collapsed as well in her rush to get Yuko something to drink. She grabbed the woman's waist and hoisted her up to throw her arm on her own shoulders. She nearly buckled under the taller woman's weight on her slight frame, but the seer was determined and dragged Yuko's ass inside and to her receiving couch where she dumped Yuko's ass onto the cushions and ran off to get some water. When she came back with the water bottle and handed Yuko a cup of it, the witch grabbed it greedily and tipped it back, chugging the glass in just a few gulps.

"Much better!~" Yuko sighed, gasping after her chug.

"Well, that's good to hear." Watanuki sighed, putting her hands on her hips. "It certainly is very hot out there today. You need to drink regularly to avoid dehydration." Watanuki lectured, finding herself acting like a mother to the older woman – and not for the first time. Then a scent reached her nose, one that was very familiar and shouldn't even been in the room at the moment. "Wait a minute…" Watauki picked up the water bottle and sniffed the contents, confirming that there wasn't any water in the bottle and that it was, indeed, alcohol. "This isn't water!"

"Mistress decided to replace the bottled water to something more suited to her delicate tastes." Mokona informed the girl, its voice a snooty, pompous, mischievous tone of mockery from her shoulder. Like a shoulder devil. Or maybe just a devil.

"And why would she do something like that!?" Watanuki snapped, throwing the bottle back on the table and turning to the mokona.

"Because her lazy servant didn't think to do it first!" Monoka huffed indignantly, folding its arms.

"Yeah, there are reasons for that." Watanuki shot back, bringing up one finger to adjust her glasses in a suave style.

"Now Mokona is thirsty too!" The fur ball raised it's hand, a nice pink blush on it's cheeks. "Get me a cup!" It ordered as it held out on furry paw.

"I'm tired of being ordered around by you, fur ball!" Watanuki shouted, Mokona "wha-ed" and then started giggling, its ears flying up with the force of the girl's rant.

"Now, now, you two! What does it matter? I'm feeling better after all!" The pair looked down to see Yuko smiling, lounging and talking like she always was. Watanuki sighed, wondering for the millionth time how much Yuko could make if she was and actress. _A lot_ by the looks of it whenever she wanted to weasel in more alcohol when Watanuki was around. "And now," Yuko started naughtily, "Since I'm in such a good mood…I'll let you see something particularly special." The woman reached down seductively into her breasts and pulled out something from between them with a flourish, the move hot enough to knock three men out of their minds. However, it didn't faze the teenaged girl and she just focused on what was in Yuko's hand.

"Huh? A pipe container?" Watanuki asked, leaning in and studying the purplish case with the golden floral pattern raised on its surface.

"Yes, yes it is." Yuko affirmed, her fingers going to the lid to pull it open. "But it contains something better than a pipe." Something furry popped out of the end.

"Oh! It's a brush!" Watanuki looked at the creamish-tanish tip, leaning in closer with Mokona. And then the brush moved, snaking out into a twirl of brush. "Ah! Why is it moving?!" The brush twisted around and around until its…face…got right into the girl's and blinked at her cutely with its little back eyes, its little ears twitching. Everything paused, just for a moment. The snake-thing was almost out of the pipe container, Yuko was still on the couch, and Watanuki and Mokona were frozen, leaving backwards with both their arms stuck at odd angels. And then the snake thing leapt, curling around Watanuki's neck as she tried to ward it off squeaking and Mokona jumped off the seer and landed on Yuko.

"What is this thing!?" Watanuki yelped, as the thing twirled around her head and spiraled around her neck several times, becoming a furry necklace.

"It's a pipe fox!" Yuko cooed.

"A what?" Watanuki asked, looking at Yuko with a stumped look on her face. "What's a pipe fox?"

"Look! Don't you see his cute little tail?" Yuko asked. Watanuki reached up and pried several strands of pipe fox off her neck and looking at it.

"I'm sure is adorable, but I can't quiet tell which end's supposed to be the tail." Then she gasp in surprise as the pipe fox tightened its grip on her neck and started choke her.

"Well, he seems to have taking a liking to you." Yuko commented, smiling like she'd just pinched some of Watanuki's sweets without her noticing.

"He's trying too – ug, oof – strangle me!" Watanuki squirmed around, attempting to yank the pipe fox off her when Yuko raised her hand up. The fox saw the offered hand and snaked around Yuko's pinky and wrist, letting Watauki's blue face breath as she panted.

"I received him as compensation. Aside from being the perfect pet, this little guy has an amazing spiritual power." Once Watanuki had enough air in her lungs to look up, she saw that the pipe fox still had a hold on her left pinky as well as Yuko's.

"Let go!" She ordered, trying to get the pipe fox to do just that.

"What's wrong?" Yuko asked, leaning her head on her free hand. "Don't you like your new friend?"

"No! He's swell!" Watanuki twisted around and wedged her stocking-ed foot onto the fox and tried to push him off her finger. It didn't work because the pipe fox seemed to stretch with each push and his grip on Watanuki's pinky just tightened further.

"I almost forgot!" Watanuki started as she put her foot down and looked at her and Yuko's connected pinkies. The pipe fox squeaked from Yuko's side as it nuzzled the witch's hand. "Do you believe in that red string of fate thing, Yuko?" Yuko was queen of all things supernatural, so Watanuki figured it would be a good idea to ask her if it was real or not.

"Hm?"

"I only bring it up because Wari brought it up today while we were talking in class." The girl blushed at the mention of her crush.

"It's possible." Yuko replied.

"Wahoo!" Watanuki cheered, fist pumping in excitement of her string connecting to Wari.

"But if it exists, I seriously doubt that the end of the string is always connected to only one person." That wiped the smile off of the seer's face.

"Hey, wait! What do you mean?!"

"It seems we have a customer." Yuko interjected abruptly. The pipe fox chose Yuko to wrap around and let go of Watanuki, twirling around the witch's wrist. Watanuki ran out of the room as quickly as she could to greet their guest and Mokona took this opportunity to drink what was left of the vodka in the bottle and then laughed gleefully and hiccupped.

"Hello! Sorry to keep you waiting!" Watanuki ran out to the genkan (i.e. entryway) and saw the same girl from the alleyway standing in front of her. "Oh, you're the girl from before!"

"Thank you so much for your help earlier!" The girl smiled and bowed gratefully, standing up straight again and holding on of her hands under the other. "I couldn't get that guy to leave me alone! I can't thank you enough, really."

"Oh, no. It was nothing at all!" Watanuki waved both of her hands in front of her face humbly. "I'm just glad I could help! Did you come here because you're an acquaintance of Yuko's?"

"Yuko?" The girl asked. "No, I don't know her. I just ended up here somehow. What a coincidence, huh?"

"Oh, I see." Watanuki smiled apologetically, half knowing that it wasn't chance and half hoping that it was. "That is strange."

"It was no coincidence." Yuko's voice drifted in from the hallway. "There is no such thing as coincidence in this world…only inevitability." Yuko walked up to the genkan and folded her arms thoughtfully. The pipe fox was wrapped around her neck like one of those ringed African necklaces and kept still. "The fact that you are here today means that you have something you want to see come true."

"You mean…a wish?" The customer asked.

"Yes. I can grant any wish you have. Provided, of course, that payment is made." There was a pregnant pause and the girl looked deep in thought, her eyes casting downwards and her smiled fading.

"I can't think of anything like a wish, per say, but I have been having trouble with my pinky lately. I can't move it very well."

_That's strange, _Watanuki thought. _It's just like that other woman. _She remembered the last time this had happened with the woman who wouldn't stop lying and she also remembered how badly that incident ended. Watanuki took her glasses in her pointer finger and thumb to fix her glasses and looked at the girl. Black smoke was drifting up from her finger in a cloud of old perfume, burnt skin and cigarette smoke.

"Let's talk about hat bad habit of yours." Yuko stated ominously.

"Huh? What bad habit." The girl asked.

"Oh, it couldn't be that hard to come up with at least one." Yuko said slyly. The girl's gaze dripped again and she pulled away, acting nervous like she had something to hide.

"Sorry. I have to go. I have an appointment I have to keep." The girl wasn't smiling anymore as she backed away and walked toward the door.

"An appointment?" Yuko asked.

"Yes, I'm going to meet the man I'm seeing right now so I need to be on my way. He really does care for me, so he'll be worried if I'm late." As she spoke, the girl held up her right hand, and smoke started pouring from her pinky again.

"Hm. Alright then, I'll give you this." Yuko held up a silver ring in her hands.

"That's very kind of you, but what is it?" The girl asked.

"It's a ring."

"And if I wear it…will my pinky go back to normal again?"

"It's possible, but first you have to choose whether or not you want to wear it." Yuko's cranberry eyes narrowed. "Similarly, you have so choose whether or not if you're going to stop that bad habit of yours." The girl thought for a moment, and then walked forward to take the ring, her fingers trembling as she plucked it from Yuko's hand and then quickly bowed and walked away. The door clicked shut behind her.

"There was smoke coming out from her pinky, just like that other girl."

"So you noticed that too, did you?"

"Uh huh. So tell me," Watanuki turned to her boss. "Is the same thing that happened to the other girl?" Yuko didn't say a word, she just gave Watanuki a look that told her everything. "Okay! I'm going out for a bit!" Watanuki threw off her apron and head handkerchief and ran out the door after she got her shoes on. The pipe fox sprang into action, snaking from Yuko's neck to Watanuki's and tightening itself reassuringly. Watanuki grabbed at it, making sure he didn't choke her before leaving him alone as she ran out the door.

"It's good to see that in some ways, Watanuki will never change, but I'm afraid that she'll find out that this girl's bad habit is a little different from the last." Yuko said as she watched the girl go, her words unheard.

_Where is she? _Watanuki asked in her brain as she ran through yet another shopping district of Tokyo, looking for the customer. _I swear I saw her come this way! _The pipe fox had slithered into the seer's shirt, winding around her waist and breasts like a lecherous demon until Watanuki yelled at him to stop, drawing the attention of people all around her. She then started running again after the fox had settled in between her boobs and stayed there. _Geez! Whatever. If he'll stop moving, I don't care where he sits! _After running a few more blocks the pipe fox suddenly moved.

"Ag! What are you doing!?" She yelped as the pipe fox weaseled his way out of her shirt and yanked Watanuki to the left, nearly pulling her neck off as she stumbled sideways. The fox dragged her down an alleyway and out back onto the main street, right were the customer was getting mad at someone on her phone.

"Do I have to explain every little thing?" The girl snapped on her phone. "Look! I just don't think we're meant to be together! Why can't you let it go? I'm sorry, but I just can't change how I feel! Why don't you understand?! Don't call me anymore!" She hung up with finality and snapped her phone shut. The girl sniffed irritably and shoved her phone in her bag, looking up again. A huge smile bloomed on her face and she quickly put on a pair of red glasses and ran towards someone, her girly voice on.

"Oh, Yoshik! I hope you haven't been waiting long!"

"No, I just got here a second ago." The dude she ran up to was really tall and had purple-blue hair for some odd reason and was wearing gray pants, a red punk shirt and a purple jacket, hands stuffed in his pockets and a look on his face that said I'm-cool-and-I'm-going-to-let-you-think-you-think-that-you're-this-cool.

"Are you sure? I'd just hate it if you were mad at me!" The girl grabbed onto his arm and did that weird girly thing where she kinda rubbed against him and acted all cute with her sing-song voice.

"I couldn't be mad at you." He replied coolly.

"I'm so glad!" She smiled and Watanuki's glasses slid down her nose in disgust as she hid behind a pole like a stalker. _I'm going to throw up because of all this sweetness. Alright then, I guess she was meeting someone after all. _The seer fixed her glasses and watched the pair laugh and run around like idiots, the girl pulling her guy along like some pet.

"I was just thinking…tomorrow's your day off right?" The girl asked as Watanuki trailed them through the shopping district.

"Yeah, I guess it is." He replied.

"Then why don't we go somewhere?" She suggested brightly. "Please, I'd love to spend the day with you!" She snuggled into the arms she was holding as they walked.

"Where?"

"Anywhere! As long as it's with you!" Watanuki choked down bile as she continued to listen, the sugary tone of the girl upsetting her stomach. _Nobody will ever catch me talking like that! _

"I have an idea: how about that amusement park that's across town?"

"Really? Awesome!"

"I heard it's really cool. Besides, I know you've wanted to go there for a really long time." Yoshiki placed his hand on the girl's head, ruffling her hair softly.

"Thanks, Yoshiki! You're the best boyfriend a girl could ever ask for!" The girlfriend smiled cheerfully, taking the hand on her head in her own. "Let's promise!"

"Alright, sure." Their pinkies hooked together and they shook them up and down to make a pinky promise.

"There were go! This proves we're bound by the red string of fate." She said, smiling. "There! Now it's you and me forever!"

_Cross my heart, hope to die, swallow a thousand needles is you lie…_

"Wha?" Watanuki looked around for the child singing the creepy pinky promise song, standing up from her hiding place behind a tent sign and looking around. But there weren't any kids that were singing in that moment and when she looked back at the couple, they were running across the crosswalk as the walk signal flashed to get out of the road. She ran to catch up with them when the pipe fox yanked her back by her neck, choking the girl and dragging her back onto the sidewalk. A second later, a huge truck flew by, missing Watanuki by inches as it careened past along with a bunch of other cars that would've been crashing into each other if the girl had been hit.

"Oh! You were just saving me!" Watanuki said to the pipe fox gratefully. The little rascal squeaked and then proceeded to twist, snake and tickle Watanuki all over her body, making her laugh like an idiot in the middle of a street full of people. "Hey!" The pipe fox dove into the girl's collar and curled up in between her breasts again, sticking his head out of her shirt collar. They both spotted the couple at the same time and watched as the girl's pinky emitted that same black smoke from before. _That smoke again…_the girl mused, watching the cloud envelope the boyfriend as well as they walked away. Watanuki still couldn't figure out what her bad habit was because it wasn't lying like the other woman's had been. She'd said she was going to meet someone and she did – no lie. The seer's head tipped to the side and the pipe fox squeaked in response, not giving her any answers.

Watanuki went back to Yuko's where she mused about her encounter. She went home very late that night and thought about it before she went to sleep. At school the next day, she stewed about it, still not having any answers. Her confused sour mood was plunged even further away from happy when she was stuck cleaning up the soccer balls with Doumeki.

"Why am I the one helping you clean up after practice?! I have better things to do you know." She hissed, picking up a ball and tossing it into the wire bin with the other balls. Doumeki was standing a few feet away from her in his blue and white gym shorts and shirt (respectively) and juggled a ball with his feet before kicking it right into the bin. He tried it again and missed, the shot pinging off the rail and bouncing. _Great, now I have to chase that one too! _Watanuki glared at him, pulling down her high cut blue bloomer summer gym shorts (well that was a mouthful and Watanuki hated them because they looked like underwear too) as she crouched down, tossed in another ball and then stood up.

"Yeah, I'm sure your schedule is packed," Doumeki replied.

"What's that supposed to mean?! For your information I happen to be a very busy woman!" Watanuki felt something slither up her spin and around her stomach, tickling her. She threw her hands up in the air and wriggled around like a fish on a hook, twirling, crunching, swiveling, stomping and jumping while making strange noises at the same time.

"Well, that's and interesting dance. Is that your way of lodging a formal protest?" Doumeki teased in his own way (mostly his face and voice stayed the same, but he loved poking at the raven).

"I certainly protest but I am _not_ DANCING!" Watanuki shouted, waving both fists at the brunette as she struck a majestic sumo squat.

"Hm?" Doumeki noticed something moving around under Watanuki's shirt and reached out to ninja grab it as it made a pass at her collar, catching the pipe fox in his fist. Watanuki sighed in relief from being tickled. "So what is this thing?" He asked, holding the wiggling fox as it tried to get back to Watanuki.

"It's called a pipe fox." Watanuki replied, still out of breath from her dancing and tickle attack.

"Oh, yeah? A real pipe fox?" Doumeki continued, looking at the wavy, snake-like creature.

"Oh, it's real. So you've heard of them?" Watanuki held up her hand the Doumeki let the pipe fox wind around her wrist.

"Just another thing my grandfather taught me about. They have some pretty cool powers." At that moment, the soccer coach came out and yelled for the two of them to hurry up so he could close the equipment room and all talk was suspended as they busted their butts to clean up. Watanuki showered and changed and started walking home in her summer uniform and be on her merry way. However, she had an unwanted companion.

"Don't you have some club to get to or something?!" Watanuki growled, shaking yet another fist at Doumeki as he walked with her.

"Not today. Is that why you're following me around everywhere?" He asked, one hand in his pocket and the other holding his school bag in that manly way – slung over his shoulder.

"Geez, I just happen to go this way too!" The raven snapped, putting her hands on her hips and snarling. The pipe fox decided that this was a good time to make a second appearance and yanked the girl (by her neck) to the left, down a side street (on one foot) and into a commercial area. "Will you cut it out!?"The girl hissed at the creature as Doumeki followed calmly behind. And then she looked up, the pipe fox finally letting her go and she spotted the girl from yesterday in yet another skirt and dress top at an outside table of a café. She was sitting with a blonde haired boy wearing a bandana, who was stirring her cup and placed it in front of her. The red glasses were gone and she looked so much more mellow that yesterday. She was digging around her purse and pulled out a cigarette, and the man with her smiled and lit the joint for her. She puffed a cloud of smoke into the air and her companion held up the ashtray to take her cigarette as she then picked up her cup and sipped. It was like the roles were reversed: she was now the one being doted on instead of doing the doting.

"Is there a problem?" Doumeki asked, breaking the silence of the seer's study.

"No, it's just that that woman over there was a customer in Yuko's shop yesterday." She said, looking back at the archer. "But it almost seems like she's a completely different person now." Watanuki watched the woman take another drag of her cigarette with a worried look on her face. Doumeki watched Watanuki calmly. Knowing that the girl was concerned for the customer-woman, the archer made the executive decision to help her out and give her a nudge.

"Come on." He said, walking towards the café.

"Hey! Wait! Doumeki!" The girl ran after him, whispering for him to stop the whole way. The boy marched right into the café and led Watanuki to an outside table. He sat down normally but she decided that it was better to slink behind the table and then hide her face behind the menu to peek at the couple. Doumeki just folded his arms and looked at her. _This is not how I wanted to spend a first date. _

"So I don't know how, but I ended up in this weird little shop," the woman started, fiddling with her ring and then taking it off, holding it in between her pointer finger and thumb. "And this weird fortuneteller lady practically forced me to take this ring." She held it up to her companion so he could see it.

"Really?" He asked.

"She was saying all this strange stuff like if I wore this thing it would make me feel better." The woman set the ring down and picked up her cigarette again, holding it over the ash tray.

"Well, that's good. You told me that you haven't been feeling well lately and I've been getting kind of worried." He smiled and brushed something off of his black, short sleeved jacket and then gave the woman all his attention.

"Aw, that's sweet. But you know, just being with you makes me feel a little better." Her snarky attitude dropped away as she smiled. "Who needs some stupid ring when you've got a relationship like this, right?" She puffed a cloud of smoke into the guy's face and he blushed and smiled, obviously smitten by her. "Ah! Is that the time? I've really got to get going."

"Y-you have to leave already? I was kind of hoping we could grab a bite to eat or go see a movie together or something." The nice atmosphere was broken by the woman's sudden announcement about leaving and her date was flustered by it, watching his date rummage around her bag for her things.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I promised some friends I'd meet them over at the amusement park this afternoon."

"Just some friends?"

"Yeah, it's no being deal. I'm just meeting a few of my girlfriends from high school." The woman took out a mirror to fix her hair and then applied some more lipstick, holding up the same mirror to do it.

"Oh." He was clearly disappointed that she was leaving, but happy that it wasn't (supposedly) a guy she was meeting. "So when do you think we could get together again? Maybe next Sunday?"

"I can't. I 'm supposed to shopping on Sunday. I think I could probably make next Tuesday work, though." She put the compact back into her purse and if anyone could see inside, they'd find out that the woman had several different cell phones and at least two of them were blinking in that moment. "Why don't we get dinner that night? I've been craving Chinese food lately."

"That sounds good. I'll see if I can made some reservations." The guy affirmed their plans.

"Great. Consider it a promise." The woman held up her hand and he held up his, there pinkies hooking around each other.

_Cross my heart, hope to die, swallow a thousand needles is you lie…_

Watanuki was hearing that child's voice again and looked around for the one singing. She couldn't find anyone, but she did find Doumeki looking at her funny. The woman walked away from her table, distracting the girl and she and Doumeki followed her out (the archer acting normal and the seer holding up her school bag to cover her face like that would make her more inconspicuous) as the guy took out his phone to find the "place with the perfect Chinese food."

Little did anyone of them know the ring was still sitting on the table.

A bus, two trains and five arguments later, Watanuki and Doumeki ended at the amusement park for operation "Colored Yarn" following "The Girlfriend." The Girlfriend was running up to the park's entrance and grabbed that same pair of glasses from yesterday and put them on, her run turning more girly with every step after that.

"I'm sorry!" She called, the sugary, girly voice back on as she ran up to the guy from yesterday. Yoshiki.

"Hey." He said, still cool in his white suit jacket and black T-shirt.

"The seminar ran longer than I expected and I had such a hard time getting out of there!" The Girlfriend grabbed onto the dude's arm just like yesterday, all lovey-dovey and sweet unlike her other personality. "Forgive me?"

"Yeah, it's no problem." Yoshiki's face changed as he smelled something. "You know, you smell a lot like cigarette smoke."

"What? No way! I've told you before: I'm not a smoker. _Yes, you are, _Watanuki corrected as she hid behind a pole. "Oh, it must be my stupid professor! He was smoking through the entire seminar! He's really disgusting! I mean, how inconsiderate can you get?"

"Yeah, I know." Yoshiki and his girlfriend walked into the park and Doumeki and Watanuki weren't far behind. Doumeki paid to get it.

"I'm glad we came on a day that's not too crowded!" The Girlfriend said.

"Yeah, me too." Yoshiki agreed.

"Oh! Let's ride that one!" The woman pointed to a ride.

"Yeah, let's go." And they ran off, leaving Doumeki with Watanuki (who was behind a rooster console).

"Ordinarily, you wouldn't be my first choice of people to go to an amusement park with." Watanuki stated to Doumeki, coming out from behind the rooster. Doumeki decided not to tell the girl that he was enjoying himself with her and just poked the girl in the head. She growled at him and stomped away. "I just don't understand why she's acting like a completely different person." The seer grumbled.

"She'd got a different personality for each guy." Doumeki noted. "This one looks like her favorite." The couple ran to get in the line for the roller coaster and Doumeki grabbed Watanuki's hand and pulled her into the line as well.

"What are you doing?!" She hissed as they continued watching the girlfriend and Yoshiki from ten people back.

"Following them, duh."

"But do we have to do it from here?" Watanuki griped.

"What? Don't like roller coasters?" Doumeki teased.

"No…it's just…" Watanuki didn't really answer and then the line started moving. They ended up on the same train as the girlfriend and her date, and Watanuki was nervous as she was strapped into her seat. Doumeki could tell she was worried, but he didn't know what about, just watching as her hands clenched and unclenched in her lap. As the rest of the passengers were getting checked, Doumeki reached over and placed one of his hands on hers to calm her down.

"What's wrong?" He coaxed, his voice slightly softer than usual. Watanuki was easily spooked and worried and concerned a lot of the time (annoying as well) but this was a different type of worry. She looked up at the brunette, startled by the contact of their hands and swallowed loudly.

"People have died here." Was all she said and Doumeki nodded, completely understanding the spiritual turmoil the girl might be feeling. "It's not that they were recent or really, really horrible, but the feeling lingers for a long time. I might throw up."

"Well, do it over there if you do." He said, not letting go of her hand.

"I hate you." And then they were off. Up, down, left, right, around, and upside down, with Watanuki screaming the whole time. Doumeki just sat there calmly as the rollercoaster whipped them all back and forth, the wild ride being enjoyed in a more subdued manner. The couple they were stalking seemed to be having a good time as well, laughing and screaming where they sat, at least, from what the archer could see. Watanuki was not having a good time. She was scared to death of her handlebar popping up and ejecting her out into the air to fall to her death. She was also scared of the train derailing and of it stopping right in the middle of a loop de loop, keeping them hanging upside down in an eternal blood rush. The only good part about the ride was that Doumeki's hand never left hers, his calming presence keeping her sane, even if she despised the guy. She was so glad when it was over that she ran to the bathroom to throw up her relief.

Doumeki kept an eye on the couple while Watanuki was in the bathroom as they hopped from ride to ride until the seer emerged, disgruntled and chewing a piece of gum. After about an hour of refusing to go on any other rides, Doumeki apologized for the one ride he'd made her go on by buying dinner: burgers. He lounged against a wall while Watanuki sat on the ground, moodily eating her burger as they watched the girlfriend and Yoshiki.

"Oi." Doumeki said, drawing the girl's attention to the couple and the guy was patting the girl's head for the millionth time that day, fixing her hair or just being affectionate. She stood up, shoving the rest of her burger in her mouth in a very unlady like fashion.

"Look!" Yoshiki pointed to a side attraction. "Let's do that one next."

"Sure! Looks like fun!" The girlfriend agreed. They walked hand in hand to the entrance as an automated voice called announcements.

_"__Test your love! Place your hands in love's guillotine! If your love is true, your fingers will be unable to be cut. If not…the blade will sever your red string of fate that ties your finger together!"_

"So? Are you ready for the challenge?" Yoshiki asked.

"Y-yeah. Sure." The girlfriend looked nervous as she walked in with him. 

Doumeki's hand came up and landed on Watanuki's head as they followed, rubbing her hair just like Yoshiki did to his girlfriend. Watanuki was not impressed.

"What are you doing?" She growled lowly.

"I wanted to see what it felt like." He replied nonchalantly.

"Well, stop it! You're messing up my hair! And we have better things to worry about!" Watanuki batted his hand away and went to fix her fly-away hair that he messed up when suddenly, Doumeki's arms were around her waist and she was being lifted and up twirled over to the other side of the archer, to avoid getting bumped into by other pedestrians. Watanuki was so close to Doumeki in those seconds, his sandalwood scent snaking up her nose and making her head fuzzy. She was pressed up against his hard chest, her breasts and arms trapped against him, innocent and devilishly naughty at the same time. She felt his muscles coil around her solidly and she was pretty sure that he could break her in half, strong even if he didn't have the bulk behind it. And with that thought, Watanuki realized that she was complimenting her arch enemy. So for good measure, when he set her down from the unexpected lift, she stepped on his toes. Of course, he said nothing and probably didn't know it was intentional (and honestly, the raven wasn't heavy enough to inflict much damage) but it gave her a sweet, secret satisfaction to know that she at least got him back.

"What was that for?!" She snapped, brushing off his arms and trying to get her pounding heart to calm down.

"I didn't want you to get bumped." Doumeki pointed to the two girls who'd nearly bowled the seer over, to busy in their animated conversation to apologized for the near-miss.

"Well, I don't need your help, thank you very much!" Watanuki huffed, trying to forget Doumeki's smell and just how close their bodies had been.

They followed the couple inside the auditorium, the pair already getting their hands strapped into the guillotine and it was an honest to goodness guillotine with a drop blade and everything! Watanuki got nervous for her own pinky just looking at it.

"This thing's kind of intense, isn't it?" Yoshiki asked, looking at his date with a smile. Her lips twitched in response, her nervousness showing through. The assistant had them hook pinkies where the blade would fall and then strapped both of their wrists in with a click. As the lock clasped, a huge cloud of black smoke burst from the girl's pinky and floated over the whole stage with a menacing aura and then disappeared into the blade.

"Oh no!" Watanuki shouted as she saw what was going to happen.

_Cross my heart, hope to die, swallow a thousand needles is you lie…_

"That again?!" Watanuki said looking around for the singer.

"What?"

"Can you seriously not hear anything?!" She snapped at her classmate.

"Nope." He replied.

"You're useless!" She hissed, her tone bringing out the pipe fox from her boobs. "Whenever that girl links pinkies with someone I hear this kid singing some creepy song!"

_Cross my heart, hope to die, swallow a thousand needles is you lie…_

Doumeki's eyes narrowed as he saw something up on the stage and then the guillotine's blade began to drop. The girlfriend dropped her head, squeezing her eyes shut in fear.

"No!" Watanuki breathed. The blade flew towards their fingers and the pipe fox sprang, glowing, and flew between the blade and the couple's fingers. A burst of light blinded everyone on stage including Watanuki and Doumeki. The seer threw her hands up to shield her eyes and only looked up once the light had dissipated. Everyone else was acting like nothing strange had happened, so maybe only she saw the light. The girlfriend's eyes were still squeezed shut but when the attendant started moving she opened her eyes and looked at her still-whole pinky, wiggling it experimentally. As her wrist was released, she held up her hand and then sighed when she saw that there was nothing wrong with it. Watanuki sighed as well, knowing that things could've been a lot worse. The pipe fox emerged from the girl's collar and she smiled at him.

"It sure is lucky for those two that I have you around today!" Watanuki praised the pipe fox for his quick action as he snaked around her head and nuzzled her cheek. She blushed and petted the creature softly.

The guillotine blade was lifted up again and the girlfriend watched it climb, holding her hands close to her chest.

"There you are! Hey! You forgot your ring!" Watanuki, Doumeki and the girlfriend turned at the familiar voice, and Watanuki hid being her school bag.

"It's Sakikawa!" The girlfriend gasped, hand at her mouth.

"I figured it was pretty important to keep this with you." Sakikawa held up the silver ring that the girlfriend had left at the café when she took it off.

"Uh…" The brunette stumbled over her words.

"Okay, who the hell is this kid?" Yoshiki took a step in front of his date, completely pissed off.

"Wait, I don't when what's going on here." Sakikawa started. "You said you were just coming to the park with some of your girlfriends."

"Uh…well, you see…" The girl stuttered.

"Why don't you tell me what's going on?" Yoshiki demanded, turning to the girlfriend.

"Can't we just try one more time!?" Another familiar voice shouted. "We were meant for each other!" It was the glasses man from the alleyway yesterday! He was hiding in the shadows of the auditorium's seats, but stepped out when he spoke.

"What? What is this? What on earth is he doing here?!" The girlfriend yelped.

"I know it was wrong of me to come but I couldn't help myself! I just- I just missed you so much!" Watanuki stayed "hidden" behind her school bag, fearing what was about to explode between these three guys and the girl.

"Leave me alone!" The girl shouted.

"That's it!" Yoshiki interjected. "Explain yourself now or I'm leaving." He was really mad.

"I've come to ask you…again…from the very bottom of my heart: please just marry me! You said before that we're bound together forever by the red string of fate!" The glasses man shouted to the woman.

"You said that to me too! Didn't you tell me that we were tied together by some invisible red string?" Sakikawa asked.

"Me too!" Another voice piped up.

"Same here!" Someone agreed.

"That sounds familiar." Another grumbled. Seven or more other men walked into the auditorium, all of them clearly looking for the girlfriend.

"Abe? Daishiro? Shinpei? You're here. But why now? I don't understand what's going on!" The woman asked, confused by the appearance of all her boyfriends.

"Oh, yeah?" Yoshiki growled. "Well you are certainly not alone on that one!" He grabbed his date's wrist harshly. "You told me you weren't seeing anyone else! You promised me! Remember?"

The woman's only response was to bow her head and sink to her knees, faced with all her old lovers and current boyfriends and the broken relationship that she really wanted was slipping away.

Watanuki and Doumeki left soon after that, not wanting to get involved with or watch the sticky mess of untangling all the girl's strings on the guys and the archer left the seer to go to her job.

"There you have it! Thanks to this little guy nobody lost any appendages today. He really is a good pet." Watanuki finished telling Yuko the afternoon's exploits as she petted the pipe fox who was still wrapped around her neck.

"That's too bad. All the best love stories include amputation." Yuko said, puffing her pipe while lounging on her couch. She was wearing an elaborate get up this evening, done in a light blue and with purple patterns on her dress with its customary slit up her legs and disconnected, ruffled sleeves. Her hair was pulled into two large loops at the back of her head.

"So…I guess this red string of fate is just a silly folktale." Watanuki sighed, thinking about the girlfriend's deception.

"She was just using it as bait. To lure in a good man. But unfortunately, her plan seemed to backfire as she caught more fish than she could handle." Yuko puffed her pipe and looked at the downtrodden seer. "No great loss. The last thing the world needs is another silly love story."

"You're bitter." Watanuki pointed out. "Someday, Wari will fall in love with me and our story won't be silly! I won't give up!" The girl declared.

"I have some bad news for you…" Yuko started, smiling like a cat.

"Huh?" Yuko sat up and reached out her hand to the girl, holding it up flat.

"Kimihiro Watanuki, I have the power to see you fate." She intoned. Watanuki stumbled back a few steps in surprise. Yuko didn't even ask for something in return this time. The raven swallowed loudly. "I know the name of the person to whom your string connects."

"Yeah?! Who is it?!" She asked breathlessly, hoping it was Wari.

"It's Doumeki, of course. Who else would it be?" Yuko replied, dead pan. Watanuki's soul drifted out of her mouth and she collapsed on the floor in mortification and horror.

"Just kidding!" Yuko teased, winking over her shoulder as if she was talking to someone else. Watanuki sobbed on the floor and the pipe fox slithered out of her shirt, squeaking and kissing the girl on her cheek.

"Or not."

Note 1: The Monkey's Paw comes from a supernatural short story of the same name, written by W.W. Jacobs in 1902. The story revolves around Mr. and Mrs. White and their adult son Herbert. Sergeant-Major Morris is a friend of the White's the introduces them to the Monkey's Paw, its power of granting any three wishes and of the paw's journey. The last owner of the paw used his third wish for his own death. Morris throws the paw into the fire after having a bad experience from using it but Mr. White saves it and Morris gives him a warning but White ignores it, only thinking about how it can be used. Mr. White wishes for 200 pounds (English money) so he can pay off his house. Herbert White goes to work the next day at a local factory and is killed in a machinery accident. Although the employer disclaims tortuous responsibility for the accident, the firm makes a goodwill payment to the Whites. The payment is 200 pounds. Ten days after the funeral, Mrs. White (mad with grief) asks her husband to use the paw to revive their son, and he reluctantly does so. A short while later, there is a knock at the door and Mrs. White tries to unlock the door. Mr. White knows he cannot let their revived son in because his appearance will be too hideous to handle, this is because he was asked to identify the body after the accident and found it mutilated. It has also been buried for more than a week. While his wife tries to open the door, Mr. White makes his third wish and the knocking stops. Mrs. White opens the door and finds no one outside.

The variations to the Monkey's Paw in xxxHolic and the original is that the paw in the episode grants five wishes instead of three and is implied to almost always kill or make the owners disappear for their final wish, which is not the case in the short story because Mr. White is still alive after the final wish, even if his son and the previous owner are dead.

A/N: There you go! See y'all next time!


	7. The Ghost Story and The Sprite

A/N: ZareEraz here! Don'tthrowbricksatme! *hides behind her computer* I'm so, so, so, so, so sorry that this has taken so terribly long to get out, but I hope you think the wait is worth it! I can't wait to see what happens next! :3

Chapter Six: The Ghost Story and The Sprite

The sun was high in the sky, its heat beating down on the Tokyo buildings, its bright light blinding the in the hot afternoon. The cicadas were singing under any plant in which they could hide, the heat being even too much for them. In this humid, blazing summer weather, there was only one thing to do about it: complain. And one person had the complaining down to an art.

"Uuuuuug. Soooooo hoooooot." Yuko sighed and slipped lower into the deck chair and looked forlornly up at the sky. There wasn't even a breeze to rattle the wind chime. "Soooooo hooooot!" The witch was desperately overheating, even with Maru and Moro fanning her. The twins were in their little summer versions of their normal clothes, and they didn't seem to be having a problem with the heat, just worried for their mistress (who was shifting her feet around aimlessly in a tub full of ice).

"Can't…move…" Mokona moaned with Yuko, its little body flung over the side of her ice tub.

"Try to hang in there, mistress!" The twins said, fanning a little faster. Yuko repositioned the bag of ice on her forehead and leaned back dramatically in her wicker chair.

"Why does summer in Japan always have to be like this?" She moaned. She was sweaty all over, her bun soaked in perspiration, sweat sliding down her skin and into her light, blue-dyed summer dress. Even with the barest amount of clothing she was still hot. "Its miserable!"

"Hi everyone." Someone else was moaning now, her voice forlorn as she walked up with a tray. Watanuki was in a bad mood too. "Yuko! You have to hear this! This is terrible!" The seer was walking all hunched over, like the weight of the world was on her shoulders as she walked down the porch towards the shopkeeper, making sure not to tip her bowl of flavored shaved ice.

"This chick is even more dismal than a Japanese summer. I wonder what's wrong with her now." Yuko sat up, preparing for the worst Watanuki could offer her.

"I'm not going to be able to see Wari for an entire month! I may die!" The girl moaned.

"Oh. How terrible." Yuko didn't sound the least bit sympathetic.

"Ug! How am I supposed to make it through the summer?!" Watanuki set the tray down at Yuko's feet before collapsing to her knees in melodramatic fashion and throwing her arms up in the air. Yuko groaned at her performance, but when she glanced down her face turned from sheer mockery to delight at the sight of the flavored ice and a few well picked cherries and orange slices. Yuko reached for the bowl and Watanuki picked it up and met her halfway, A slight breeze whisked through the wind chime, causing it to clink on the porch as Yuko took her first bite of the shaved ice. She hummed her approval as the cool treat, smiling widely and taking another fruity bite.

"Well, of course! I can understand why you'd be so worried about him over the summer," Yuko said, getting into the conversation.

"What do you mean 'worried about him?'" Watanuki asked, leaning forward with her hands on her knees.

"The beaches, the bright blue sky, the balmy, star-filled nights!" Yuko recounted. "Summer is the season of romance!~"

"How could you say something like that?!" Watanuki flipped out, clapping her hands on each side of her head, her eyes wide with horror. She fell forward and smacked her head on the ground, kicking her legs in protest while she was at it. "Wari isn't the type to have a summer fling! Never! No!"

"You'll find love and heartbreak are important parts of being young." Yuko continued.

"The love I think I could deal with but I want nothing to do with heartbreak!" Watanuki moaned, sitting up on her knees again. "What if he happens to meet someone else over the summer!? Eeeeeyyyaaa!" Watanuki eyes went wide again. Mokona just chowed down on its bowl of shaved ice while the girl was having her meltdown.

"Alright then." Yuko interjected before Watanuki's moans summoned up the dead. "Why don't you just ask him out on a date yourself?"

"A date!?" Watanuki hands came down to her knees again, clenching and unclenching nervously as a blue appeared on her sweat cheeks. "Believe me I would ask him out in a millisecond if a could…but I get so nervous when I'm alone with him!" The girl admitted.

"Fine." Yuko said, her shit-eating , plan-scheming grin on her face. "Then make it a group date."

"Huh?" Watanuki looked up at the witch.

"Let me give you some guidance since you're a little nervous." Yuko's slender hand came up and pulled off one of her dress straps seductively and leaned back with a mischievous glint in her red eyes. "Just follow my lead and he'll…be…yours."

"Oh, yeah! Baby!" Mokona cheered, using its spoon as a microphone. Watanuki apron strap fell off her shoulder and her glasses slanted on her nose at Yuko's display, a goofy grin on her face. She didn't know what Yuko had in mind, but it had to be good. But it was probably scandalous at the same time.

"I have a perfect idea for your first date." Yuko continued.

"Perfect!" Mokona repeated.

"Definitely." The witched nodded.

"Definitely!" The twins repeated.

"Yeah? What's that?" Watanuki asked excitedly. Yuko's smile got bigger.

"We'll tell ghost stories!~" Watanuki's other apron strap slipped off her shoulder in disbelief at the ludicrous idea.

"Yay! Ghost stories!~" Maru, Moro and Mokona cheered, waving their arms in the air.

"That's not remotely romantic!" Watanuki protested, shaking her head and waving her hand in front of her face.

"Now that that's settled, why don't you run along and invite Doumeki, m'kay?" Yuko stood up and steped out of her tub of ice, her wet footprint splashing on the porch.

"Huh?" Watanuki's mouth dropped in true horror.

"Ghost stories should be told in the proper atmosphere!~ Doumeki said something about living in a temple, right?" Yuko placed her hands on her hips like everything had been decided. It had not in Watanuki's mind.

"So what?!" Watanuki glared at the woman she knew who's only purpose in life was to make her miserable. "I don't want that guy involved in my date!"

"We'll rent a room in the temple and tell ghost stories all night long!" Yuko triumphantly pumped in arm in the air, like everything had been decided. "Hyakumonogatari time!" (1)

"Watanuki's first date!~" Maru and Moro jumped up and down as they cheered.

"We'll party all night!~" Mokona added.

"Watanuki's first date!~"

"Why?!" Watanuki wailed as everything was decided for her. She was not happy with the way things were going (but then again…she never was happy with the way things were going when they involved Yuko in the first place). And so, they ended up at Doumeki's temple that evening after the sun had set. Yuko was dressed in a normal yukata this time (black with purple butterflies and a yellow obi), her hair pulled up in a simple bun with her signature strands hanging on either side of her face and one hanging down her back from her bun. Watanuki was in a light blue yukata with darker blue swirl designs and a black obi and her hair was just in her normal pony tail. They were waiting in front of the temple for Wari to show up, Watanuki tapping her geta on the ground in nervousness until she heard the smack of sandals on the temple's path. Wari was jogging up in his blue yukata, his curly hair bouncing around cheerfully.

"Hi guys!" Wari greeted the pair. "Wow! This is just the perfect place!"

"That's just what I said! Good to see you, Wari!" Watauki walked up to her crush, swaying with every step like a cat's tail.

"I haven't seen you in a while, Yuko! Thanks for inviting me tonight! I'm really excited" Wari said to the witch.

"Glad you could make it." Yuko smiled. Mokona leapt out of the shop owner's bag and into Wari's hands.

"Hey! Doing well?" The fur ball asked.

"I'm doing very well! And how are you doing?" Wari asked back.

"I'm good."

"You are as charming as ever, my boy." Yuko said. She tipped her hand in front of her mouth to whisper to Watanuki (who was still blushing like a fool). "Don't you think, Watanuki?"

"Absolutely!" The girl replied. She tucked her hand behind her head and turned toward Yuko. "See how cute he looks?! Tonight will be great!"

"Don't get your hopes up. He could be more than you can handle." Yuko warned with a smile.

"I know that!" Watanuki's embarrassed look disappeared and her arm came down as she geared up for an argument. "I know that! With a boy as handsome as Wari I know I'll have plenty of rivals to deal with!"

"Well, true…but that's not exactly what I meant." Yuko replied, her smile dropping off. Watanuki was about to open her mouth to continue arguing when she noticed someone important was missing. The girl's head snapped in direction of the temple and spotted Wari talking with Doumeki. She growled in jealously and possessiveness, a huge cross vein forming on her skull.

"Hi, Doumeki! Thanks for letting us come over!" Wari said to his classmate.

"Yo." The archer replied, straightening his burgundy yukata. Watanuki clenched her fist, shaking it in Doumeki direction. She was so pissed that Wari was paying attention to that jerk again instead of her!

"You'd do better to swallow your pride and make friends with him." Yuko said slyly as Mokona hopped up on her shoulder.

"What?! No way!" Watanuki snapped, clenching both of her fists now as she turned towards Yuko. "He's just renting us a room here! It's not like I have to bond with him of all people!"

"Well, I guess you'll figure it out soon enough." Yuko sighed, walking towards the temple with her geta clacking on the path as she went.

"What'd she mean? I wonder." Watanuki mused, watching the witch go. She never really understood Yuko most of the time and right now was no exception. While Watanuki was lost in thought, Yuko had made it to the temple's steps and then she called out to the girl to get her to hurry up and come inside so the ghost stories could start. Watanuki growled at her and then clomped her way into the temple. Try as she might, the girl couldn't avoid nodding a hello to Doumeki when he said hi, but she did not respond to his remark on her looking nice. She just huffed and walked up the stairs. Unfortunately, Watanuki tripped over the teeth of her shoes in her haste and started to tip backwards. She was just about to go tumbling down the stairs when a strong pair of hand wrapped around her shoulders. She tipped her head back and nearly conked Doumeki in the chin. He'd stopped her fall, bracing her body and then setting her back on her feet. She just growled at him and reluctantly said thanks so Yuko wouldn't get mad her for being rude. Doumeki was always doing things like that for her…it just didn't meant that she had to like him for it. Yuko and Wari giggled at Watanuki's bad mood and entered the temple in front of the seer and archer. They walked into the one of the temple's huge rooms and Yuko went to the doors that led out on to the porch, her hands on the frame as she listened to the night birds chirping and the humming of insects. And then she slid the door shut, smiling like a pleased cat.

"Oh, this is an ideal situation for our little get-together." She said. Her three little helpers were kneeling on the floor, Watanuki next to Doumeki (not by choice, mind you) and Wari next to him. There were several objects resting by them, including for candle stands, a bowl of water and several candles.

"You sure it's alright? Us telling ghost stories in here?" Watanuki asked Doumeki, pushing up her glasses as she whispered for no reason. "Isn't that room in use?" She continued, nodding to the doors next to them.

"Yeah, but it doesn't matter." Doumeki replied unemotionally.

"Not to you. But it will be inconsiderate to them if we make a lot of noise in here!"

"Trust me, it won't be a problem." Doumeki went on.

"Wow!" Watanuki scoffed. "Aren't you polite?!"

"Now, then…" Yuko sat down next to the pair and reached for the bowl. "Watanuki, you take this. Place it in the unlucky corner. That's south west, if you didn't know." Yuko handed the girl the bowl filled with water. The seer glared at Yuko because, yes she did know that the southwest corner was considered unlucky, but then decided not to argue and stared into the ripples for a moment before doing as she was told. "Place the four red stands in each of the corners." The teens did as instructed. "And next…we have the candles." Yuko lit one of the candles and placed it in the holder by her knees. The flame flickered blue in the darkness, wavering with its unearthly light. "Everyone, please use this flame to light a candle for yourself. Then take it to the stands in each corner. There you go, just like that." Each of the teens lit one candle and walked it to their respective stands, placing the lights in the bowls on top. When they all sat down again this is how they were positioned:

Watanuki was sitting in the direction of the southwest corner of the room, where the bowl of water was next to the candle stand. Going clockwise, the doors to the outside were on her left and Wari beyond that, sitting in the northwest corner. The next room's doors were on the curly-haired boy's left, with Yuko next to him in the northeast corner. There were a few displays and shelves on the wall to the witch's left and Doumeki next to them in the south east corner, and then another set of doors to his left and completing the circle back to Watanuki with the incense bowl in the middle of it all.

"Now, the preparations have been complete." Yuko said ominously. "Well, there are a few other prepcautions we could take, like lighting one hundred candles and arming ourselves with talismans, that sort of thing." Yuko paused and looked at her little helpers. "But tonight, this simplified version should be fine. Yes, the cast is complete." Another pause. "Now…shall we start telling our ghost stories?"

Yuko picked up the candle sitting next to her and blue it out, making the darkness even deeper with only the four candles in the corners of the room. It was downright creepy, and it was going to get even more so.

"We'll, start with Wari." Yuko turned towards the boy.

"Alright. This is a story about a family," Wari's voice got really solemn, his blue eyes becoming hollow as he spoke. "A handsome husband, a loving wife, and their little boy who loved his mother very much. They seemed like a happy family. One day, the wife had discovered her husband had been unfaithful and they began to argue. Shameful that he had been found out, and angered by his wife's words, he raised his fist again and again, until everything was quiet." Inside the room, it almost felt like they could heard the body of the wife falling to the floor, the silence echoing the story. "He looked down," Wari continued. "She wasn't breathing. He'd beaten his wife to death. If anyone found out, he knew he'd spend the rest of his life in jail. He would have to hide the body. But first, he'd have to come up with something to tell the one person who loved her most of all: his son, who was so devoted to his mother. What could the husband say to keep his son from asking questions?" Watanuki could just picture the husband's desperation to hide his secret, the scraping of a body being dragged across the floor loud in her ears. "He decided to tell his son that his mother had taken a trip. He explained that there was no time to say goodbye because she left so quickly.

"Each day, the husband worried about his son asking about his mother. He lived in fear of that moment. He knew it wouldn't be long before his son realized that something was wrong." Wari paused here, the tension in the room building. "Two days passed, and then two more; and the son still didn't ask about his mother. After a week, the husband couldn't bear it anymore. He decided to ask the child about his mother. He asked his son, 'Aren't you lonely without your mother?' The boy looked at him blankly for a while, a confused stare on his face. And then he said, 'But dad, mom's been next to you the entire time.'"

Watanuki was sweating, her head tipped to hide her scared expression. The candles around them seemed to be sparking and squealing, upsetting the girl even more. Watanuki plus ghost stories never mixed, and the girl knew that some of what Wari had said could be true for someone, because vengeful ghosts like the wife could come into being at any time. It was just to real for the seer for her to shrug it off. She peeked up and Wari was smiling like normal.

"And that's how the story ends." Wari picked up an incense stick and lit it, placing it in the bowl when his story was done.

"Wari, you're quiet the story teller," Yuko complimented.

"Thank you! Was it scary enough? I hope it wasn't boring."

"It wasn't boring at all," Doumeki replied, looking at Watanuki. 'In fact, it seems to have had an effect on at least one person here." He teased emotionlessly.

"What are you trying to say, moron?" Watanuki's fear flared into anger, clenching her fist at the archer.

"Exactly what I said." Doumeki looked away, unconcerned with the girl's outburst.

"I wasn't scared at all!" The seer protested. _It may had just been a story but I've seen too many weird things in my life for anything to seem entirely fictional! But I wasn't scared! _

"Right!" Yuko clapped her hands together again and smiled. "Shall we continue?"

"Yeah, I'll go next then." Doumeki folded his arms and started telling his story. "This is a story I heard from my grandfather." The boy's voice took on an eerie tone, just like Wari's had done, coating the tale in an uneasy invocation.

"A student moved into an old apartment to live by himself. His first night there, he went to bed and started to doze off. And when he was juuust on the verge of fall asleep, he heard footsteps walking around on the tatami mats, the noise creaking and groaning over the floor. But there was no one there and the student hid under his blanket. A bit shaken by this, the student visited an old friend and got some protective charms. He hung them on the walls of his room, one talisman for each wall." Doumeki paused and Watanuki started sweating again. And she swore that someone shifted on the tatami mats of their rented room just to make her jump. It was Yuko…probably. "And then…later that night as he lay in bed, the spirit appeared, materializing as a dark cloud in the shape of a man's head, arms and torso with no legs. At first he thought that the charms kept the spirit from coming near as it circled around his bed. But in the end…_he was wrong_." Doumeki's voice suddenly turned malicious and cruel, clotted with malice just like the spirit's in the story. Watanuki jumped, but then realized that the voice she'd heard was just in her head and Doumeki had been speaking normally. But Watanuki wasn't the only one who reacted. Wari gasped and jumped back.

"How scary! That story was really scary, wasn't it?" He said, clenching his hands together.

"Yeah…yeah it was." Watanuki was trembling now, her hands covering her mouth. And then she realized that Doumeki could see her being scared and punched her hands down into her lap and glared at the archer. "But don't you dare make fun of me for saying it!" She hissed hotly.

"Huh?" Doumeki said with a slight sarcastic look on his face.

"Don't look so smug!" Watanuki snapped.

"Doumeki, your grandfather was the head priest here for quite some time was he not?" Yuko asked.

"That's right. 'Til the day he died." The boy replied.

"Then I imagine that he often saw spirits."

"He said he that he did. He was also supposed to be a very talented palm reader."

"I see," the witch hummed. "You must've gotten your blood from him." Her statement confused Watanuki, and she looked from the witch to her classmate. Doumeki looked at her while she looked at him. Their staring contest was interrupted when someone from next door moved, the walls rattling. Watanuki jumped back onto her butt, a half-scream choking in her throat. The doors were shaking and rattling, like something was trying to get out. Watanuki's eyes widened in fear, a sweat drop rolling down her cheek as her breath quickened. She was really scared now.

"Don't you hear that noise?!" She asked fearfully, pointing towards the door in between Yuko and Wari. "Is someone in there?" She asked, turning to Doumeki.

"You could say that." Doumeki replied.

"What's with that half-assed answer!? Is it someone you know?" Watanuki picked herself up and sat on her knees again, tryin to act just a little not-scared-shitless.

"Yeah. A parishioner. Only his remains though." Doumeki was dead serious when he said that, so he wasn't lying. Watanuki was frozen in her spot, just watching the archer place his incense stick in the pot while carefully holding back his sleeve so it wouldn't drag through the said in the pot. The doors kept rattling the whole time. "We're keeping him here until its time for the funeral."

"Do you think a family member could be in there with him?" Watanuki gulped and pointed towards the doors. "Maybe?" She asked hopefully.

"There's nobody alive in there. That's why I told you it didn't matter if we made noise tonight." Doumeki looked at the door, his voice calm. Nobody else seems troubled by the fact that a dead person was making a lot of noise in the next room, only Watanuki was voicing her concerns. So she tried again.

"Could there be a window open in there?"

"There aren't any windows in that room." Doumeki shut her down. A particularly loud bang had the girl jumping back again. The doors rattled harder, faster, as if the corpse was desperately trying to get out.

"You see," Yuko said, drawing Watanuki's attention. "It's just like I said: the cast is finally complete."

"What are you talking about!? You can't include a dead guy!" Watanuki protested. She stood up and walked over to Wari who was sitting next to the rattling doors for some reason. Oh, he was praying for the deceased. "Let's get out of here, Wari! Telling ghost stories in a place like this is absolutely insane!"

"You can't leave." Yuko interrupted. Watanuki looked over her shoulder at the witched. "There's a protective barrier surrounding us. You can't leave it in the middle of the ceremony."

"There's a barrier?" The raven asked.

"Yes, it was created by the four candles. It will protect us as long as we remain within it's bounds." Watanuki looked at the candles and then down into the incense pot, the smoke from the sticks gliding up into the air. "But I make no guarantees if you leave its protection." Watanuki shivered at the thought of not being protected even if she hand't realized she was being protected in the first place.

"So what now?" She whispered.

"We stay within the candles until out storytelling is complete." Yuko's insistence on keeping up the "date" premise annoyed Watanuki back into her old self.

"You've got to be kidding!" She yelped. The raven knelt next to Yuko and put up her hand to whisper. "It's not a good idea for me to be telling ghost stories with a dead body here!" Yuko scoffed at the girl.

"You haven't seen any spirits yet, have you?" The woman asked.

"Well…" The girl sat back, surprised. "I guess is haven't." Watanuki remembered that Yuko had said the Doumeki had that special power to ward off spirits and the girl looked at the archer. He just looked back at her. Yuko turned her head from Wari to Doumeki and then back to Watanuki.

"Well, don't get to comfortable. I suspect that will change before too long." Her comment had Watanuki trembling again. "Tell me Wari."

"Yeah?" The boy replied.

"Will you be alright if we continue this?" The witch asked the boy.

"Yes, once you start something, it's important that you see it through to the finish." Yuko chuckled evilly, her hand reaching out and cupping the boy's chin, her face drawing closer as if she was going to kiss him.

"You're a brave boy, Wari. Do you know that?" Their lips were inches apart now…

"AAAHHHH!" Watanuki screamed (for entirely different reasons than being scared), throwing her arms up in the air. "Her fangs are out! Wari's going to be eate-" A hand flashed out and smacked the girl in the face.

"Quiet!" Yuko commanded sulkily. The incense smoke suddenly dipped down, flowing across the room instead of up. A sleeping Mokona sniffed as the smoke drifted by its nose and it cracked its eyes open a smidge when Yuko clapped the kids to order again. "Why don't we continue with our story telling, hm? If everyone's ready?" Everyone was ready, already back in their spots.

"Sure…I'm ready." Watanuki said shakily.

"Of course!" Wari responded. "Who's next?" Everyone's head turned towards Watanuki.

"It's you, right?" Doumeki asked. Watanuki's head dropped.

"Let me guess: you didn't prepare a ghost story for our little celebration tonight, did you?" Yuko teased.

"No I have one ready…it's just that…" Watanuki looked up. The room darkened as the candles burned down. And she began her story, reliving a horrible memory at the same time.

"This is a story about a girl. A very young girl who was walking home from elementary school one day when something unusual happened." Watanuki saw that little girl, dressed her skirt and short-sleeved shirt and standing in the middle of the road. She stopped walking when she spotted a can. The girl kicked the can and it went flying down the street before clanking on the concrete, the girl running after it. "The girl reached the crossroads and saw a strange man approaching from the right." The girl's head turned, forgetting all about the can she'd been kicking and looked at the man dressed in a suit and top hat. His footsteps were crisp and clear on the pavement, resonating in the girl's head. He was all gray, even his skin. "She thought it was odd that the man was carrying an umbrella on such a sunny day. But it was more than that. He seemed…unapproachable somehow…as if they were separated by something more than just a few feet of pavement. The girl was relieved when the man passed her buy." The girl in Watanuki's memory was now running, her little pony tail bouncing behind her.

"When she came to the next crossroads...there he was again." The girl watched the gray man walk by her again with his blank eyes. "Was it possible that she was in a hurry and taken a wrong turn? Was that why the man reappeared?" The girl looked behind her, looking at the crossroads she'd just come from. "For some reason this encounter frightened the girl. Something about it felt wrong and the girl ran. And then…" Watanuki saw the girl stop at the next crossroads, seeing the gray man walk in her path again, this time with beady black eyes leering at the child as he passed. "There he was again. The girl clenched her eyes shut until his footsteps had faded away. And when she looked up, he was gone."

Silence, except for the crackling of the candles floated around the room. Watanuki didn't say another word.

"Well, it's over. That's the end of my story." The girl looked up sheepishly.

"That's was really creepy." Wari said sympathetically, but Watanuki could tell he was lying.

"Yeah, I'm really terrified." Doumeki stated flatly.

"Well, excuse me!" The girl snapped. And then her head sunk down again. "That really happened to me," she admitted.

"Are you serious? That was a true story?" Wari asked. "I wonder who that man was." Watanuki didn't know what to tell him, so the girl just picked up her incense stick, lit it and put it in the pot with the others.

"I bet you saw a ghost." Doumeki answered. Watanuki looked at him in shock.

"Wait, a ghost? You really believe in them?" She asked pointedly.

"Well, yeah, of course I do."

"Oh, okay then." Watanuki said disbelievingly.

"Haven't I told you that a thousand times?" Doumeki asked, his voice almost annoyed, but not quite.

"I was just checking!" Watanuki snapped. "Why am I the only one who can see them?" She asked forlornly. "Man, I wish I didn't have the ability to see spirits."

"You must admit it comes in handy." Yuko interrupted the girl's pity part of one. Watanuki looked up at the woman. "The girl in the story was lucky in the end, wasn't she?"

"Why do you say that?" The seer asked.

"Well, if she hadn't run away when she did then she might not be alive today."

Silence accompanied Yuko's statement, the fact that Watanuki probably should've been dead weighing on the air.

"The number four is said to lead to the realm of the dead. To meet someone at a crossroads four times would be unfortunate." The witch continued.

"I thought it was just a myth." Wari whispered fearfully.

"Have you ever seen a room in a Japanese hospital with the number four in it?"

"Now that you mention it, no I haven't." The teen replied.

"Standing where four roads meet…kinda makes you wonder about the fourth world, also known as the underworld." Doumeki added. "Crossroads can sometimes grant one access to the fourth realm."

"You're quite knowledgeable about these things, aren't you?" Yuko asked.

"Just something I heard from my grandfather."

"Hey! If you two are done chatting, can we get on with this thing!?" Watanuki asked, pissed that this was taking even longer because those two wouldn't shut up.

"So Watanuki," Yuko turned towards the snarling girl. "Was the girl able to find her way home safely that afternoon? Was the rest of her walk quiet? Or did something else happen along the way?" Watanuki thought back to her walk, but couldn't remember anything after the third meeting, the girl in her memory just standing in the street with her long shadow reach out behind her.

"Sorry, but I can't remember." The girl hung her head again.

"Alright." Yuko smiled again. "Then I supposed it's time for my story." She finished ominously.

"I'm kinda scared to hear yours. I'm sure it's going to be terrifying." Watanuki shivered as she spoke. Yuko smiled devilishly, her hand coming up to touch her yukata collar.

"Look behind me." The witch began. The incense smoke drifted towards Yuko and the room with the corpse in it. "You see that shape on the screen? Does it look familiar?" Watanuki looked behind the witch and saw a mass of shadows moving around, like a collection of spirits roiling around in the netherworld. Then the shadows merged into one, becoming the gray man in Watanuki's story, top hat and all. The girl gasped loudly, jumping backwards in fear. The man's umbrella appeared on the screen too and then he disappeared. The ceiling creaked next, the wood bending under someone's weight.

"The ceiling just moved." Doumeki noted.

"Yes it did. Interesting." Yuko replied just as calmly.

"It's kind of like someone's moving around up there." Wari added. The three of them watched and listened as the creaking and groaning of wood moved around the ceiling and then spread to the rest of the room. "Wait, it's coming from all over."

"It almost sounds as if someone is crawling around on all fours." Doumeki noted again. Watanuki could not believe how calm they were all being! She was freaking out and about ready to piss herself.

"No!" Watanuki clapped her hands to the side of her head and screamed. Then a huge quake knocked her on her stomach and elbows. The whole room was rattling now, shaking and quaking violently. "A-an earthquake?!"

"No." Yuko's smile had disappeared. "Take a look inside the water dish." They all turned to see the bowl. There was nothing out of the ordinary, except…that everything was.

"With all the shaking, the water should be moving!" Watanuki yelped, looking at the completely still surface of the bowl.

"But the barrier is in danger." Yuko said, the shaking getting more violent. A huge creaked and shake had Wari toppling over and Doumeki was the one to catch his shoulders. Even in danger, Watanuki's jealously still flared up at the sight of Doumeki touching Wari (even though there was nothing really going on).

"Doumeki! You lay off!" Both boys looked at the girl. Wari's eyes widened frightfully, the boy's hand pointing behind the girl.

"Watanuki! It's behind you!" Wari shouted. Watanuki couldn't see, but the man with theumbrella was looming behind her on the screen, splitting up into a hoard of swirming bodies. Another huge quake as the girl screaming and one of the candle stands tipped and crashed to the floor, the candle flickering out. The rest of the candles went out, leaving the room in darkness.

"The barrier's been broken." Yuko intoned. The quaking and creaking got even more violent and the spirits on the screen pushed their way into the room. White hands burst from the screen, wriggling and clawing at air until one of them reached for Watanuki. She looked too late and her collar was snagged as the seer was pulled into the screen, the hands all grabbing onto her and holding her. She screamed and tried to pull away, but the hands were too strong, yanking on the girl's clothes and body so tightly that she was having trouble breathing. The spirits pulled on her harder, trying to drag her through the screen as if they wanted her to join them in death. One of the hands was clenching around Watanuki's throat now, cutting off what little air she had left as she shook with terror.

"Quickly, Doumeki. You need to pick up the bow that's in the alcove." Yuko instructed. Doumeki did as he was told, turning around the grabbing the bow from off its stand. "Now, fire towards the screen." Wari ran to Watanuki's side, trying to think of something to do.

"Watanuki!" He gasped. If the girl hadn't been so busy trying to breath and get away from the spirits, she'd have been ecstatic that her crush was worried about her.

"But I don't have an arrow to shoot." Doumeki told Yuko, his voice showing the tiniest bit of worry and concern for his classmate.

"If it's you shooting, then you won't need one." Yuko replied. Doumeki stood, his eyes narrowing as he took his stance. The bow came up, his right hand pulling back on the bowstring while the left held the bow and pulled forwards. He aimed towards Watanuki and the spirits holding her captive. He took just a moment to look at Watanuki's terrified face as the struggled against the bone white hands that clawed at her skin and hair, yanking her this way and that in their desperation to have her. Watanuki needed Doumeki right now and that was something that the archer took very seriously.

His will set, Doumeki aimed his shot, a shining golden arrow materializing in his bow. He released it, sending it flying towards the spirits and piercing it in one of its heads. The spirits screamed in agony and a dark mass of gloop spilled through the hole Doumeki had made in the screen as the shadows vanished. Watanuki dropped to the floor, gasping for breath as the glob sunk down over her.

"You hungry?" Yuko asked, holding up Mokona in her hands.

"Yeah!" The fur ball's black eyes shot open wide and a it started sucking in the mass of spirits like a vortex. A few seconds had passed while Mokona was gobbling up the huge mass of spirits and then it shut its mouth when the last of them were sucked into its gullet. "Wow! That was quite a feast!~"

"Well, good. I'm glad you enjoyed it." Yuko smiled.

"Ug." Watanuki, Doumeki and Wari all groaned in disgust at the display Mokona had just put on.

"Now, who's ready for a snack!~" Yuko asked, looking at the teens. Just the mention of food after seeing Mokona eat a whole bunch of angry spirits tipped Watanuki over the edge. She'd been scared shitless, choked, mauled by a bunch of spirit and subjected to Mokona's eating habits. She ran to the bathroom to throw up what was left of her dinner. "Bring the watermelon back with you!~" Yuko called after the girl.

Watanuki hurled in the sink, apologizing mentally to the temple, and then washed her mouth out when her stomach stopped heaving. She wiped her clean mouth off and looked at her face in the mirror. She was pale, sweaty and wore out, the bruises on her neck beginning to form. _Geez, how and I going to explain this one at school? _Watanuki took a few grateful breathes before steeling herself and walking out of the bathroom. She then proceeded to find the watermelon Yuko had mentioned and cut it up into triangles before walking back into the rented room.

The lights had already been lit and everyone was outside on the porch. They all dove in on the plate Watanuki was carrying and started chowing down on the fruit. Watanuki still didn't have her appetite back yet, so she refrained from taking a piece. Mokona bit into its piece loudly, munching away, still hungry even after eating.

"That was amazing!" Wari said to the pork bun.

"Wari, aren't you a little creeped out by that thing?" Watanuki asked. The seer was sitting in between Doumeki and Wari, the girl's crushed on her right, with Mokona next to him and Yuko next to it. She finally felt better enough to at least nibble on a piece of watermelon and took one before Mokona ate it all. "You saw what it did! It sucked up a big ball of angry spirits!"

"Don't call me a thing!" Mokona retorted.

"It was still pretty amazing!" Wari replied.

"Yeah! Did you hear that!" The fur ball snarked. _It's more like 'disgusting' if you ask me, _the girl thought, turning back to her fruit.

"Speaking of amazing…" Wari continued. "You're such a great shot, Doumeki. How'd you shoot that bow without an arrow?"

"Dunno." The archer replied.

"So what was that thing that went flying?" Watanuki asked.

"Energy." Yuko answered.

"Energy?" Watanuki repeated. All three teens looked towards the witch.

"Doumeki has a power that drives away evil spirits and demons." Watanuki looked at Doumeki incredulously. He wasn't even looking at her and just took antoher bit of watermelon. "This impressive talent of his comes from his family lineage. Much like yours, Watanuki." Watanuki just scowled at her classmate as he chewed.

"I have no desire to be anything like this moron!" She stated forcefully.

"What are you so upset about?" Yuko asked, holding up her piece of watermelon. "When you get into trouble with anything supernatural, Doumeki has the power to drive them off for you." Mokona took this opportunity of explanation to jump into Wari's hands, cuddling and giggling with the boy.

"But it's so humiliating to have to depend on a jerk that like that for protection!" The raven retorted, her pride concerning independence bruised. And then the girl remembered something, turning off her bad mood in the process. "Oh, Yuko. What'd you mean before, when you said the 'cast was complete?'"

"The parishioner's corpse was our last member." Both women looked back into the occupied room. "I wanted to show you what each of you is capable of. That spirit became our unwitting star. Thankfully, we had you here to attract it, and of course, Doumeki was here to drive it away." Said Doumeki was now not paying attention to the conversation and went about lighting an oil lamp with an automatic lighter.

"But why did you invite Wari?" Watanuki asked, looking at the boy who'd walked over to the plate of watermelon and was now holding a piece up for Mokona to chow down on while diving straight down in the air. "Is he supposed to be a part of this 'cast' you keep talking about?" Yuko turned to look at Wari too.

"I guess I should tell you…" She started answering. Watanuki waited, holding her breath because Yuko was actually explaining things for once. "But not just yet!" _Well, there went that. One moment of clarity from her and then she goes back to normal!_

"Why are you torturing me?!" The girl wailed. Yuko just laughed and kept eating her slice of watermelon.

After they were all done eating the watermelon, Wari bid the group good night, waving cutely from the temple's walk before disappearing down the street. Yuko and Mokona were busy getting drunk on the porch and Watanuki was clearing up the dishes to take to the kitchen after she'd been forced to cook a midnight snack – and by "midnight snack" Yuko had meant a full dinner. She had so many that she was going to have to take two trips and left the rest on the porch. What she didn't expect was that Doumeki was going to pick up the second set and follow her. She reached the kitchen without knowing she had a shadow and plunked the dishes down into the sink with a sigh. The second plunk startled her and she whirled around to find Doumeki adding his dishes with hers.

"Say something if you're coming in!" She snapped, putting a hand to her chest to quell her frightened heart.

"Sorry. I brought the rest of the dishes." He replied.

"I can see that!" Watanuki whirled around again and turned on the sink to wash the dishes. Doumeki leaned against the counter, watching the girl.

A cross vein popped out on her forehead as she washed, but the girl ignored the archer, instead taking to the dishes like a demon. The only bad thing was, there weren't many of them to keep her busy and she ended up flying through the load. The other bad thing was the Doumeki started drying them and putting the dishes back in their cupboards, getting the job done even faster. After that was finished, there was just a girl and a boy standing silently in the kitchen.

"Can I help you with something else?" Watanuki huffed.

"I helped you tonight." Doumeki stated.

"Yeah, so?" The seer asked.

"I want something." Those words sent Watanuki into a panic, her heart beating rapidly and her breath coming up short. The last time Doumeki wanted something from her it was that damn kiss that she couldn't forget. _What is he going to want this time?! _The girl wanted to know and didn't want to know at the same time, but obviously she was going to find out whether she liked it or not.

"W-w-what do you want?" Watanuki asked, thinking about the kiss that happened just a few rooms over in this very temple. Thinking about his lips on her and the scent of sandalwood and lemons that had haunted her for days. Thinking about how she might not hate Doumeki as much as she used too and how that was starting to scare her, more than the spirits she'd just dealt with.

"I want you to hold my hand and walk with me." Doumeki replied, completely serious, his eyes hot and molten as they started into Watanuki blue ones.

"Wha-? I-I-" The girl couldn't form a coherent word, let alone a sentence. She was expecting an outlandish request like French kissing or sex (that's how she thought all teenaged boy brains functioned) but this might be slightly less worse because it was still a prolonged punishment to spend with her enemy. But, she was the one who accidently started this whole repayment thing with the lunches and then the-the…kiss incident, so she had to see it through. Watanuki squeezed her eyes shut and stuck out her hand, looking away from it like it could make things any better. She felt a warm hand – much bigger than her own – take her fingers gently and squeezed hers tightly. Watanuki cracked her eyes open and saw that Doumeki really _was_ holding her hand, and he wasn't being weird about it like she was. She relaxed just a little and he was then pulling out onto the porch and into the temple's backyard, just walking in the cool evening air.

The breeze picked up Watanuki's hair and made it flutter behind her, doing the same thing with her yukata as they walked hand in hand. The back garden was beautiful in the moonlight, all lit up when the clouds disappeared from the moon and pleasantly shadowed when they passed over again. It was well maintained, the hydrangeas Doumeki had mentioned blooming well and the cobblestone path was swept and devoid of weeds. It wasn't as bad as she thought it would be, even if the silence between them was a little awkward. Watanuki wanted to say something to break the quiet, but she couldn't think of anything and just kept opening and closing her mouth futilely. It was Doumeki who broke the silence. But first, his free hand came up and gently touched the bruises on Watanuki's neck, his movements feather-light so he didn't cause her any pain. When she looked into his eyes, she swore she could see regret and relief reflected back at her. And then he suddenly stopped and swept the girl into a tight embrace, his arms wrapping around her shoulders and back, pulling her close enough to smell the lemon body wash on his skin.

"I'm glad you're safe." He whispered into her flighty hair.

"What?" Watanuki whispered back.

"I was worried about you when those spirits attacked. I'm glad I could help you." Doumeki squeezed her closer for a moment and then let her go. Watanuki swore she felt lips on her hair, but she couldn't be sure.

"Yeah, well…you're useful sometimes." Watanuki said softly, really at a loss for what she should say. Doumeki took her hand again and they continued walking. She squeezed it once in comfort

Little did the pair know that a pair of cranberry eyes and a pair of black eyes were watching them from the porch, both amused and secretly pleased that they seemed to get along. At least a little bit.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Watanuki was slaving away in the kitchen…again…but this time she was in her own kitchen, so it wasn't quite as horrible as Yuko's. At least she didn't have a dimensional witch breathing down her neck for food and sake. But, the witch was responsible for the girl having to get up at four in the morning (her telephone ringing shrilly in the early morning and her above-neighbor stomping on the ground to get her to shut it up) and she was really, really pissed off about it.

"Damn that Yuko. Damn that Yuko. Damn that Yuko!" She hissed as she ground her soaked rice into a paste in the hot morning sun and then checked on the red bean paste she had made. "And I'll show, Doumeki! That jerk! She growled. "How's that you cold-eyed – Always acting like some big, smug buffoon!" Watanuki always insulted Doumeki when she was doing hard work now, and grinding rice and bean paste was the perfect opportunity to vent out all her frustration – (Yuko would've called it sexual tension, but Watanuki would've smacked her down from that one). The girl paused, letting her wooden mortar rest against the bowl, wiping the sweat off her face. She picked up a pinch of her food, squished it to check its texture and then she popped it in her mouth.

"Delicious." She looked straight ahead with a smirk to rival Yuko's. "Too delicious." Watanuki then packed the rice into twenty eight oval shaped balls with skilled hands and let them set. And then when the rice balls could be handled again, she wrapped bean paste around them, completing her ohagi. (2) By the time she was done, it was already afternoon. She packed up all the ohagi in three different bento boxes and grabbed a purple wrapping cloth to tie hold them all. She then changed out of her sweaty, dirty clothes and into a pleated blue skirt and a ruffled short-sleeved, white top for the hot day. Slipping on some ballet flats, the girl walked out of her apartment, locking the door behind her and making the miserable walk to Yukos shop.

"Man, its hot today!" She grumbled. "Who knew July 14th could get this hot?! I think this is even worse than last year!" Watanuki said as she walked up the path to Yuko's door, pulling her shirt away from her sweaty chest. "Hey! I'm here!" She called as she walked in the door.

What the girl found waiting for her in the genkan was enough to have her cringing away in fear. Yuko was kneeling in a full, teal and blue kimono with Maru on her right and Moro on her left – both girls kneeling as well in their summer versions of their devil and angel outfits.

"Oh goody! We've been waiting for you!" Yuko smiled her you're-such-a-good-girl-Watanuki smile, her hands placed in front of her knees in traditional Japanese style.

"We have!" Mura said, bowing.

"We have!" Moro repeated, bowling. Mokona jumped from one wall to the other in excitement.

"Oooooooohagi!" The fur ball cheered, cannon-balling right into Watanuki's face, causing the girl to bend over backwards with a grimace on her face! "Ohagi! Ohagi!"

"Hooray for ohagi!~ Hooray for ohagi!~" Maru and Moro chanted, taking the girl's bentos without a fight and Mokona jumped on top of the lunch boxes as it was carried away.

"A simple thank you would be appreciated!" Watanuki growled and the twins and the fur ball carried off her hard work.

"Such a nice Obon gift! Good work!" Yuko cheered, sliding into Watanuki's face with a thumbs-up.

"I'm all for honoring one's ancestors but celebrating the Obon festival doesnotrequireyouwakingmeupafoura.m.!" (3) The girl ranted out, not even taking a breath in between words. Yuko's hand came up to cup her chin and leaned in close like she was going to kiss the girl, her cranberry eyes molten with warmth.

"Now, now, Watanuki. Don't ruin this culinary achievement with a temper tantrum. There's nothing wrong with starting the day early." Yuko reassured.

"You woke me up at _four a.m._! That's not '_early'_ that's _torture_!" Watanuki's cross vein got bigger and angrier as she yanked her chin out of Yuko's grasp.

"Aw! Someone's angry!" Yuko cupped her own cheek and teased the seer."

"Yeah! Angry!" Maru teased, her head peeking around a wall. Moro's head was stacked on top of hers.

"Watanuki's shaking!" The pink-haired twin giggled. Yuko had somehow instantaneously teleported over there was her head was stacked on top of Moro's.

"Scary!~" She cooed. They all ran into the dining room when Watanuki roared, coming after them with teeth and claws. Mokona was already sitting on the table, opening up the bentos when Yuko slid into her seat with Maru and Moro bookending her.

"Behold! Ohagi!" The mokona said as it presented the ohagi to everyone else. Each sweet was in its own little sleeve, sitting perfectly aligned in the box. Watanuki could swear she heard trumpets in the background as everyone gasped in delight. She went to the kitchen and made up some tea really quick and then returned to the table and sat on her cushion.

"Don't get too excited!" Watanuki warned, pouring the tea. "This is the first time I've ever made ohagi." Yuko picked up her chopsticks and then used them to pick up a sweet, taking a nibble. She blushed in satisfaction, slapping her left hand to her cheek. Maru and Moro popped up with their hands on their cheeks and all three of them coursed, "Yuuuummmmyyy!~"

Mokona had three ohagi on one chopstick like a shish kabob and ate all three one right after another.

"Watanuki! You sweet, ballbuster you!" Yuko scooted around the table at the speed of light and draped one of her arms around the girl's shoulders and ran her free pointer finger down the seer's face as she made and unpleasant face behind her glasses.

"Yeah, thanks, but spare me the flattery will you?" Yuko poked the girl's cheek. "Here, have some tea. I added some persimmon so it's bitter." Yuko turned her head away as Watanuki held up a cup for her, tapping her lips thoughtfully.

"Hm, thoughtful…but I think a nice shochu would suit me better right now. I got some as an Obon gift." Yuko said, her satisfied blush appearing on her cheeks.

"Another excuse to get sloshed!?" Watanuki shrieked, jumping into Yuko's shot.

"Red! Bean! Paste! Rules!" Mokona said delightedly, it's long tongue licking the remnants of the treat of the trays.

"Which do you prefer?" Watanuki asked sitting down at the table again with her own cup of tea after pouring Yuko's alcohol. The witch was now lounging on her porch chair with her kimono falling open everywhere like usual, drink and snack in hand. "The chunky tsubuan or the smooth koshain? Its really just the difference between Eastern Japanese style and Western."

"Both are delicious." Yuko concluded.

"In spring its botamochi and in autumn its ohagi, even the name changes with the seasons!" Watanuki continued.

"Sounds…!" Maru started.

"…Yummy!" Moro finished. Both of the twins had crumbs on their face and Watanuki reached over with a handkerchief to wipe their cheeks.

"But it seems that people call it ohagi no matter what time they're talking about." The seer was still talking, not even caring if anyone was listening. A red bean pinged onto the floor as stuff got shifted around on the table and Yuko stood to pick it up, rolling it between her fingers. "You know, I've never understood why everyone only eats them on holidays."

"Because like most long-held beliefs, it's become a tradition." Yuko replied, looking at the bean in her hand. "Many ancients believed that the red azuki bean acted as a charm against disaster, so many prepare ohagi on memorial occasions to avert the misfortunes of the dead."

"Oh! That's fascinating." Watanuki nodded in understanding, sipping her tea.

"Watanuki, thanks a bunch!" Mokona said as it pushed the three stacked bento boxes over to the girl across the table. It was rubbing its tummy appreciatively. The girl looked at the boxes with a disgusted look on her face and then opened up the top one.

"Hold up! You ate the whole bento already!?" Mokona burped in response.

"We set one aside for you." Yuko said, grabbing her drink and pointing down. "It's on the table, there." Mokona picked up the plate and held it over its head.

"Here ya go! Eat up!" It said.

"Thanks, but I'll pass." The girl replied. "Believe me, I had my fair share when I was making them."

"Oh really?" Yuko asked. "Then maybe you can share your portion with a friend! Someone special, perhaps? Obon is the time for gift giving."

"Someone..special…as in…?" The girl asked quietly, thinking it over. The image of cute Wari popped into her head. "YES! That's it! This would give me the perfect excuse to go see Wari!~"

Watanuki leapt to her feet and snagged the last ohagi from Mokona, skipping down the hallway with the treat above her head.

"This is going to be great!~ HA!~ HA!~" She made it to the kitchen and started pouring the rest of the tea she'd made into a thermos, placing the ohagi in a box for her crush. "Ohagi will win him over!~ He's going to love it!~" She sang as she packed up. "WARIIIIII!~ Here I come! Aha!~" The girl was out skipping and dancing in a heartbeat leaving the shop far behind.

"It's a shame that things don't always go the way people want." Mused Yuko at the table with her drink, still rolling the red bean in her fingers. "Such is life…she'll just have to learn!" Maru and Moro giggled over their cups of tea, no remorse for the poor raven-haired girl to be found.

In no time at all, Watanuki was in front of the Kunogi's house, ringing the bell at the gate to get Wari's attention. Ring!

"Huh?" Ring! "Why doesn't he answer?" Ring! "Maybe he's taking a nap!" She said hurriedly, trying to come up with some excuse as to why her crush was taking so long to come out. "I bet he's in the shower and can't hear anything!" Ring! "It is hot today!" Ring!" That's it!" Ring! "Or maybe she's putting down the last piece of huge jigsaw puzzle and can't tear herself away!" Okay, now she was getting desperate. Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! "There's no way he'd be with that jerk Doumeki, right?!" Watanuki didn't notice it but she'd been standing in front of Wari's house for two hours making up excuses and breaking her own heart. A firefly drifted past, its tiny light going unnoticed by the distraught girl standing in front of an empty house.

"WHERE ARE YOU, WARI?!" The girl screamed to the heavens, having run to the nearest park and climbed up to the top of the slide that looked like a mountain.

"Mommy? Why's that lady screaming?" A little boy and girl were looking up at Watanuki, very confused about what she was doing.

"Children! Come along!" The mother ran up and herded her two kids away from the freak. "Don't make eye contact with her!"

"Aw…" Watanuki groaned. She fell backwards tumbling down the slide and bopping her head on the ground as she slid to a stop. She didn't even care. Watanuki picked herself up and trudged to the swing set, sitting down and listlessly rocking back and forth, her thermos and single ohagi sitting next to her. She hadn't noticed yet, but the sun was sinking lower and lower in the sky, the night almost there. "It wasn't supposed to happen this way…" Watanuki slipped into a daydream, one where everything went right.

_"__Aw! This ohagi looks delicious!" _He'd say, taking the treat lovingly. _"Wow! You really made this all by yourself? Amazing! Is it okay if I eat it now?" _Watanuki would blush cutely, looking up at the boy shyly.

_"__Of course! Dig in!" _Watanuki would reply. And then he'd take a bite.

"It's delicious." He's say, his voice mostly emotionless and annoying. Something was wrong with that picture but Watanuki was too busy gushing to care too much, looking over at her unwanted companion with a stupid, lovesick expression on her face. Doumeki was sitting on the swing next to the seer, eating the ohagi , clearly knowing that the girl was daydreaming.

"You think so?~" Watanuki asked, still not noticing who was next to her.

"Umhm." Doumeki nodded, still chewing. There was a moment of silence before Watanuki got it.

"GAAAAHHHHH !" The girl screamed, watching as the ohagi she'd made disappeared into that jerkass's mouth. She flailing around, making the swing flail with her. "You ate the last of my lovely ohagi, you jerk! How could you do this to me?!" Watanuki's hand clapped themselves on Doumeki's face and she shook his head back and forth. She snarled with her pointy teeth, "Spit it out! Spit it out! Spit it out right now!"

"Doumeki popped the rest of the ohagi into his mouth in response. Watanuki's face turned blue in mortification and her jaw dropped to the floor. In the next instant, Watanuki was sitting on the ground in a ball of sadness and grief, holding the empty box were her gift to Wari used to be. Rivers of tears were running down her face, her eyes desolate because her chance to see Wari and give him a gift had slipped away. Doumeki was busy pouring himself a cup of tea from the thermos whilst she was being a drama queen.

"It's not like you were going to eat it. So what's the big deal?" He asked. "And I'm not sure what you did, but you were reported to the police. Now I realize that you were just being loud."

"I don't want to hear another word from you!" Watanuki yelled back. "Listening to you will just cause me more grief!"

"Don't be so melodramatic." Doumeki chastised.

"You don't understand because you're an ignorant fool! I believe Yuko about those red beans granting good luck! That's the reason I wanted Wari to eat the last one!" Watanuki leapt up again, pointing angrily and stomping her feet to vent her frustration at the bastard in front of her. Doumeki screwed the lid to the thermos back on when he was done. "HEY! Are you listening to me?!"

"Calm down. He couldn't eat it anyway. He's out of town in Karuizawa and won't be back until the twentieth."

"Huh?" Watanuki asked, her angry expression dropping.

"Read for yourself." Doumeki fished out a postcard from his pocket and handed it to the girl.

"A postcard?"

_Hello and Summer Greetings! _A voice that sounded like Wari's said in Watanuki's head.

_This is Wari's handwriting! _The girl screamed internally, her body going to grayscale with shock and jealously! How did Doumeki get a postcard from Wari?! It wasn't fair!

"You look surprised." Doumeki noted. "Didn't you get one?"

"Of course!" Watanuki lied, a cross vein popping out on her head. "I don't carry it around with me!" She handed the postcard back.

"Yeah, right." Doumeki replied, knowing she was lying and knowing that she would actually carry it around with her if she did have a postcard from her crush. He put the note back in his pocket calmly as the girl lost it again, collapsing onto her swing in desperation.

_How did he get a postcard from Wari and not me?! It's not fair! He gets mail from girls all year round and from Wari too?! How does that bastard get all the luck?! It isn't fair! I just isn't fair! _Watanuki couldn't stop crying, hating Doumeki, hating Doumeki's popularity and hating that she'd been forgotten by the one person she didn't want to be forgotten by.

Watanuki sulkily sat down in her swing and started pumping her legs to work out more frustration, her swing getting higher and higher, and her skirt flying up. Doumeki just watched the girl go back and forth and back and forth, noticing that her skirt was flying up. His eyes locked onto her butt as he watched for his opportunity to see her panties, but for some reason, there was just a blank, shapeless black space under her skirt.

"Watanuki…why…?" Doumeki asked, noticing something was wrong with the girl's panties as he tried to take a peek at what she had on today.

"Ha! You were trying to look up my skirt weren't you?!" Watanuki pointed accusingly at the archer. She leapt off the swing and faced Doumeki, leaning over with her hands on her hips, her legs spread apart dominantly. "Well, I beat you this time! Aha!" Then the girl flipped around and flicked up her skirt extravagantly and wiggled her butt to show Doumeki the bootie shorts she'd put on over her panties so he couldn't see them. "Take that, you pervert!" She sang triumphantly. Doumeki wasn't going to tell the raven, but he was fine not seeing her panties today, as long as she kept wiggling her butt back and forth in his face.

It was during this display of immature one-upping/semi-erotic booty dance that Watanuki noticed a firefly hovering around her. She stopped her childishness and stood up straight watching the light bug, drift around and around. The seer tried to touch the firefly, but it floated away. Watanuki watched the bug and Doumeki watched the girl until she noticed another girl sitting on the furthest swing from the pair of classmates, because the firefly had drifted in that direction.

She was a pretty girl, with straight cut blue hair and big brown eyes and she was wearing a cute pink dress and jacket with strappy sandals. She was just sitting on the swing, looking down at her hands as the evening shadows deepened with the setting of the sun. Watanuki was wondering how she didn't even know the girl was there.

"When did she get here?" The raven asked. Doumeki didn't reply and just looked at the girl as well. She seemed to notice the two pairs of eyes on her and gave the teens a sideways glance. And when she did see that two people were looking at her, the girl jumped in her seat, startled, and then looked away while blushing even deeper.

"Is she scared of us?" Watanuki asked.

"Beats me." Doumeki answered, leaning over on his knees. Watanuki looked at the girl as she shrunk into herself, her face getting even redder and looked at Doumeki looking at the girl. The previous hate-rant she'd been thinking about earlier popped into her head, concluding that the girl had a crush on Doumeki. The seer grimaced.

_Ah, another Doumeki fan! _She grumbled in her head. _I don't get it! What about him makes all the girls swoon? He's a cold, callous jerk with an attitude problem, that's what he is! _Watanuki put her hands on her hips and sighed, shaking her head in defeat. She walked over to the girl and could feel Doumeki's eyes on her as she strolled past him.

"Hello." She said to the girl. The bluenette's head shot up, a shocked look on her face. She took two steps back on her swing, her hands going to the chains to balance herself. "I'm leaving now, so my seat's free," Watanuki continued, gesturing to the empty spot by Doumeki. "I thought you might want it."

"No-I…uh…" The girl said softly in her high voice. She was very timid, looking down even as she was speaking.

"Oh, it's okay, really. There's nothing to worry about!" Watanuki smiled and waved the girl's protest off. She mentally punched herself. _Why am I playing matchmaker for my rival! This is degrading! _"Well, I'm heading out so you two have fun! Bye!" Watanuki started walking away when a hand grabbed the back of her shirt.

"Wait! Please…" Her voice was even soft when she was "yelling." The girl was holding onto the raven's shirt, and then quickly let go of it when Watanuki looked back, acting like a startled squirrel. "I'm sorry…but I don'-well… I mean…"

"Look," Watanuki said, turning around again. "Just relax, you don't have to say it. I know when I'm a third wheel."

"It's not like that! You don't have to leave!" The girl was looking up and then she turtle again, clenching her hands and tipping her head down. Watanuki sighed again. _Maybe I should stick around to keep the conversation going? Typical. Oh, well. I guess I'm stuck. _Watanuki cleared her throat and waved Doumeki over quietly. He just looked up at her. "Get. Over. Here." She whispered through clenched teeth, taking a lunge and using her whole arm to wave this time. The girl stood up behind her, trying to say something but Watanuki just laughed nervously and tucked her hand behind her head.

"Ha, ha. Oh, sorry! He's really not such a bad guy once you get past his flaws!" Watanuki walked behind the girl and scooted her along towards her previous seat. "Like being quite rude, unfriendly, insensitive, pigheaded, antisocial, heartless, selfish, impudent _and_ uuugggly." On the word "ugly" Watanuki had the girl sitting in the swing and the seer kept going, leaping over the park's rail and towards the hippopotamus. She looked back once and then jump-straddled the hippo and leaned on her elbows over its head. "It's alright! Just pretend that I'm not even here!" Both the archer and the new girl were looking at Watanuki until the girl turned towards Doumeki and found him looking at her. She squeaked like frightened mouse and looked away for the millionth time.

"E-excuse m-me!" She was blushing even redder now. "You two were talking…and I-I just butted in." Doumeki didn't say anything to that.

"Aw, man. Would you say something to her already?" Watanuki whined from the hippo, now dubbed the "third wheel seat." She was leaning over it head now, one arm wrapped around its ears and the other resting on its forehead. "Why does he get all the girls? Excluding me, of course!"

"This might not make sense to you but I was hoping to give a gift to someone special to me."

"So what's stopping you?" Doumeki asked. The girl stood up and walked around in front of the brunette.

"I was in a hurry tonight and forgot to bring the gift with me." Watanuki watched the girl spin around the smile, clapping her hands together. "But then I discovered yours! Right here!" Watanuki gasped as the girl's hand touched Doumeki's torso, sinking through his clothes and skin, a gushy sound coming from the intrusion. Doumeki's face was showing emotion this time, his mouth open in shock. The girl just smiled at him, a light coming from her hand as she pulled it back out. Watanuki was frozen in place by shock as the girl's hand brought out the whole ohagi that Doumeki had eaten, the treat floating and glowing above her fingers. "Wow! This ohagi looks delicious!" The girl exclaimed.

Doumeki slumped to the side in the swing, his eyes falling shut as his body went limp. Watanuki was over by him in two seconds, catching under his armpits before his head smacked against the ground. He was heavy, but she managed to hold him upright as she knelt and he sat on the ground.

"Doumeki! Hey, now." She shook him, but got no response from the oaf. "Please, just wake up! What's wrong?" Doumeki was out and nothing was waking him up, not even Watanuki's grating voice. "What did you do?" The seer asked, looking up at the girl holding the floating ohagi. She cringed and backed away, tears forming in her eyes.

"Um…I just…uh…" Watanuki let her founder. "Well…I just needed a gift…that's all I wanted. I didn't mean to hurt him." She finally said. The tears started to fall and she ran off, pink dress and all.

"Hey! Hold on!" Watanuki called after her. And then she couldn't believe what happened afterwards. As the girl was running across the park with Doumeki's ohagi, a whole swarm of blue fireflies converged on her, surrounding and flying with her. They bunched up under her feet, like glowing path until she reached the edge of the park and then they exploded, throwing the girl into the air as she flew away with the fireflies. The girl in the pink dress vanished into the night sky, the bugs' lights glittering like stars as they faded away too.

"She can fly?!" Watanuki said when she got her tongue working again. She was still holding onto Doumeki, his warm body a dead weight in her arms. "Girl's don't usually fly, right? That means she…"

"…isn't human." Yuko's face dropped out of the sky and finished Watanuki's sentence with an ominous tone. Obviously the girl flipped out, scared shitless and tossed her arms in the air, tossing whatever was in her arms as well. Watanuki and Yuko (who was leaning her body through the swing and holding onto the chains) both looked up as Doumeki was sent flying into the railing that surrounded the swing set, his head crashing into the metal bar with a glorious gong sound.

"Uh…" Watanuki said, looking at the unconscious body of her rival, his arm thrown over the rail while the rest of him slumped like a dead body.

"That made a great sound. If he wasn't knocked out already, he certainly is now." Yuko commented. Watanuki "oooed" in sympathy for the headache he was probably going to have when he woke up. Watanuki and Yuko both looked at each other for a second before scrambling to grab Doumeki and hoisted his limp body over to a bench, working like a team of bumbling paramedics. He was too tall to stay completely on the bench, so even with his head at one end, most of his legs were falling off. Yuko yanked down on one of Doumeki's eye lids, checking for movement and then let his skin snap back into place.

"My, my. She did quite a job, taking his soul like that."

"His soul?! So that means…" Watanuki trailed off. "If we don't find her, he'll stay like this?"

"Permanently."

"Did this happen…because Doumeki was here…with me…?" Watanuki stood up straight as she asked her elongated question. Yuko stood up as well, dusting off her blue halter-top dress and yanked out a blue popsicle to match.

"Possibly. It's not every day that you come across a girl who can fly. She isn't something one would so easily meet." Yuko shoved the popsicle into the mouth.

"So what you're saying is that this is really all my fault, huh?" Watanuki's pointing finger kept flipping between her and Doumeki's body.

"Hm." Yuko replied, affirming Watanuki's suspicions.

"Grrrr!" The girl clenched her fists together and made a snap decision. Since it was her fault that Doumeki was in trouble she was going to fix it. She didn't like leaving messes messy. "What do I have to do to get him back to normal?" Yuko stopped licking her popsicle and gave the girl her sideways smile.

"Oh, it would be my pleasure to tell you!~" The witch smiled brightly. "Of course, it's going to cost you!~" She waved her popsicle back and forth teasingly.

"Ah…gee….ta…da…humph!" Watanuki vocalized. Yuko took that as a "yes."

"I'll just have you work some overtime. Enjoy!" Yuko walked away while Watanuki agonized over saving Doumeki, her rival and bitterest enemy, running her hands all over her face and head in irritation. Yuko stood in the middle of the part and brought up her lips to give a shrill whistle. A big white bird flapped and chirped up in the sky. Watanuki walked over to Yuko to watch the same bird fly closer and closer. The bird's wings flapped, sending up a huge gust of wind as the massive monster landed. Watanuki was speechless, watching a bird that had to be as big as a house landing in the middle of the park and blowing her and Yuko's ruffled skirt back a few feet.

"What the hell is that?!" Watanuki asked, shielding her face from dirt and rocks that were flying into the air. The huge while bird touched down, and its head came forward, revealing that it was a bridle and a pilot.

"Ah!~" Mokona lifted up its goggled and smiled smugly.

"It's absolutely perfect, Mokona! Good work!" Yuko gushed, swaying back and forth. The fur ball struck a dramatic pose, a light twinkle issuing forth from its face. "Well, what are you waiting for, Watanuki. Climb aboard and go after her." Yuko said, hands on her hips. The raven pointed to the giant bird with a terrified expression on her face.

"What?! On that?!" She screeched. Apparently she offended the bird because it started cawing at her, waving it's wings in protest. Watanuki was once again scared shitless in the face of that giant hooked beak.

"Quit your whining and get on!" Mokona called from the reins. Watanuki grumbled as the bird calmed down and finally just gave up, knowing that her getting on that bird was inevitable if she wanted to save Doumeki. She grabbed onto the bridle to struggle her way up on to the creature's back. She was having a hard time finding a good foothold and was hanging in mid-air. Yuko just calmly licked her popsicle.

"Watanuki, pull your skirt down. It's caught." The witch informed the girl. Watanuki growled and let go with one hand to yank her skirt down with a vengeance.

"Maybe I should have clarified that I wanted your help without getting killed!" The seer shot back at Yuko. The girl finally threw her leg over the bird and settled in behind Mokona, hanging onto the bridle with a white-knuckled death-grip.

"One more thing." Yuko said, completely serious this time.

"Huh?" Watanuki asked, looking down from the considerable height she was currently sitting on.

"You have to hurry. I'm afraid you don't have much time to find her and recover what she stole. You have until day's end until he remains comatose forever." Watanuki spared a look at Doumeki's still form before Mokona got in her face with that smirk of its.

"Time to fly!" The pork bun announced, snapping the reins. "Ha!" Watanuki screamed as the bird took off, spreading its wings and flapping them hard unitl they were airborne.

"And don't worry about Doumeki! I'll look after him!" Yuko called, her pony tail flying behind her in the gusts of wind the bird made. "Mokona? Take care of your co-pilot!"

"Roger! I got her!" The mokona called down, pulling on its goggles and aviator cap. Watanuki was too busy wailing to pay attention, her eyes wide as they got higher and higher. And then the bird had to dive down towards the ground and then swoop up like it was trying to scare her to death, and of course, the girl screamed as loud as she could. And then they were up. Watanuki still had a death-grip on the bird so she didn't fall off, but when she finally cracked open her eyes, she was met with an amazing view of the whole city and the darkening night sky.

"Ah ha ha! Mokona! I can't believe it! This is incredible!" The girl shouted, looking out over the bright lights of the city. Everything looked so tiny from this height, like little ants and doll houses. "You can practically see the entire city!" She, of course, had forgotten that the entire city could probably see her on a giant bird but she couldn't care less.

"Oi! You! focus on your task!" Mokona barked, calling Watanuki back into focus. "It's a search! We're not sightseeing!"

"Fine, I'm sorry!"

"Go, birdie! Up!" Mokona snapped the reins and the bird flapped its wings hard, startling the seer into another round of shrieks.

"Is that really necessary?!" Watanuki snapped.

"The higher we go, the better chance we have of finding her!" Mokona battled the girl's mood with logic.

"I think that's high enough!" The girl whimpered, not excited to fall to her death if something happened.

"Yahoo!" The fur ball whooped.

"Well, I'm glad you're having fun at least!" She smiled. "We do have a better view from up here but she could be anywhere right now." Watanuki looked, down and around as they flew and then, looked up towards the full moon. And that's when she spotted the girl. She was floating in front of the moon, her body silhouetted up against the light, holding the ohaji with her fireflies gliding around her, Doumeki's soul even brighter than the moon. "That's her! Right up there!" Watanuki pointed at the girl.

"Huh?" Mokona asked, looking to the side.

"The moon! What are you doing?! Get us up there fast!" The girl ordered.

"Hold on tight!" Mokona snapped the reins again and steered the bird to the left. Watanuki barely hung on as she was buffeted by the sudden increase in wind, but managed not to fall off.

"Hey, you! Flying girl!" Watanuki called as they came up behind the chick. She looked back, startled that someone else was up there with her, let alone the girl from the park. "Don't be afraid! There's been a mistake! I just want to talk to you!" The girl jumped and started flying higher and faster, leaving the bird and its passengers behind. "Hey!"

"Maybe I should do the talking." Mokona jibed.

"For your information she's not running from me! This big chicken scared her off!" Watanuki shot back.

"She's getting away!" Mokona said needlessly.

"I can see that! Shut up and go faster!" The bird picked up speed, flapping hard and the winds in the sky got even sharper, tearing at the girl's clothes. They inched closer and soon Watanuki could shout at the flying girl again.

"Will you please just wait!?" She called when the girl looked back. The girl didn't say anything, she just closed her eye and ducked her head, the tears trapped in her eyes finally released into the night sky. They disappeared instantly, but a new sort of trouble was just beginning.

"YAH!" A group of voices from even above the bird yelled, vying for vengeance. Suddenly, five short guys in blue clothes, red scarves riding yellow surf boards dropped around Watanuki's bird, diving and flying this way and that, ignoring all wind direction and speed.

"We're surrounded!" Mokona stated, watching the new arrivals as well.

"I can see that!" Watanuki replied. Suddenly, once of the dwarves stopped in Watanuki's face, starling the raven. Now that she had a close look at the guy, he was wearing sharp pointy sunglasses like those ones you see in anime, had a tuft of blonde hair sticking straight up on his forehead and had little white wings on his back. He was not happy to see Watanuki, his arms crossed angrily.

"Hey! You think it's funny making her cry!?" The short man demanded.

"Uh…" Watanuki was still trying to process the dwarves on surfboards thing.

"You made her cry!" Another one came to hover by the first.

"Yeah! Made her cry!" A third joined the first two, pointing an accusing finger at the girl.

"Bad guy!" Another snapped, peeking out from behind its board.

"Very bad!" The last one accused (with his sunglasses).

"And every bad guy…" The first sunglass one started. They got into a formation like a five on a dice, with two on top, one in the middle and two on bottom, clearly preparing for something.

"…must be punished! _Shiiinnnggg_!" They all chorused. All of a sudden, the five dwarves were pulling out giant white fan like the ones you see in comedy shows to hit people. And that's just what they were going to do. They charged, trying to hit Watanuki but she was flexible, dodging and ducking each attack as it flew past her. They came back again and again, trying to knocked the girl off or to hit her, either one.

"Hold still!" One of the dwarves yelled.

"Accept your punishment!" Another called.

"Are you people crazy?! You're going to get us all killed!" The girl yelled, hanging onto the bird's bridle, they were in a turn so the bird was tipped sideways and Watanuki had no footholds, so her legs were flying and kicking around uselessly.

"Hold still and accept your punishment!" Another dwarf stuck the two threats together and they all charged into for another round of attacks.

"Reflection would've been enough!" Watanuki cried, dodging attacks again. Finally, the bird got fed up with the fight being fought around it and took one giant flap to jettison itself to the left, knocking the dwarves to the right.

"Did we shake 'em?" Watanuki looked back, still holding on as tightly as she could. "No! No! No! They're coming back! Fly faster!"

"No problem!~" Mokona laughed, snapping the reins. As the dwarves came in for the attack, the bird flapped and shot backwards.

"MISSED!" The flying men chorused. That happened several times as the five men charged in, but the bird would just fly in a different direction or drop out of their trajectory.

"You jerk!" One man snapped.

"That was awesome, Mokona! Good work!"

"I'm just doing my job!" The fur ball turning around. "But you keep messing up!" The girl's pointy teeth and giant cross vein came back as she shook a fist at the rabbit.

"What are you doing you idiot!? You dropped the reins!" Watanuki screamed.

"Ah! They're too far away! I can't reach them!" The pork bun tried to grab them but couldn't. Without Mokona driving, the bird just kept lying straight and Watanuki had to jump from left to right to left to right to avoid getting smacked off the bird with the giant fans. And then she was barely hanging on again without any footholds. The leader with the glasses was floating in front of her, holding his fan above his head in triumph.

"There's no escape for you now!" He crowed, bringing the fan down hard. Watanuki outsmarted him, leaping backwards before the fan could hit her, and grinning smugly. And then she realized that she had out-dumbed herself and was falling through the sky, the bird flying on without her.

"HELP ME!" She screamed, dropping out of cruising altitude.

"Watanuki!" Mokona screamed, but the girl was falling without her co-pilot.

The world was below her, above her, sideways and upside down as the girl spun and twisted, skydiving without a parachute. The ground was getting closer and closer, the wind ripping scared tears out of the seer's eyes, the horizon corkscrewing as the rotated around and around and around to her death. She threw her hands up like there were going to do any good now as the buildings of the city got bigger, not to pretty anymore now that she was going to be splattered on them. She squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the impact when something amazing happened.

The fireflies of the girl surrounded her with their blue-white glow, creating a giant sphere and making the girl float. She was still screaming, but now she was stopped, spinning around and around and not going anywhere. Watanuki stopped screaming when she saw the flying girl standing on a roof, holding her hand up as a few fireflies danced around her. Her hand was glowing, controlling the bugs as she brought Watanuki down safely to the roof. The raven jumped down, stumbling a bit and then looked in awe as the little lights streamed into the sky.

"Sorry about that. Are you alright?" The girl asked, still holding the ohagi. She didn't seem scared anymore, her voice calm and even (but still quiet).

"Yeah…"

"Why'd you stop us!?" The dwarves on surfboards stopped in front of the two girls, still a considerable distance away and protested that Watanuki hadn't died.

"Why'd you stop us?!"

"She's bad!"

"She's awful!"

"She made you cry!"

"Why save her!?"

"No!" The flying girl yelled back. "You're wrong about her!"

"Sic 'em birdie!" Mokona zoomed up behind the men and chased them back into the sky with everyone screaming.

"Um…" Watanuki said, turning to the girl. She gasped and got shy again.

"Ah!"

"Thanks for your help. You saved my life." Watanuki smiled softly.

"This is all my fault." The girl was blushing in embarrassment this time. "I'm sorry, but I really needed this ohagi to give as an Obon gift." The girl held up the glowing sweet in her hands. Watanuki nodded, remembering how much she wanted to give that same ohagi to Wari only a few hours ago.

"I know that. But if doing that takes the recipient's soul then it defeats the purpose."

"Uh…" The girl looked like she didn't understand.

"Uh, I know you only wanted to give Doumeki a present but he can't very well accept it if he's coconscious. He needs his soul returned." Watanuki waved her hands around as she explained to the girl what had happened.

"Oh no! Not him." The girl shook her head. "I wanted to give this too…" Her voice faded away, but she held out the ohagi to Watanuki. "…to you." Watanuki was stunned and it was all she could do to take the ohagi in her hands as the girl left it floating in front of her face.

"Happy Obon." The girl's face was redder than a sunburn as she blushed even deeper. Now Watanuki was confused.

"What…?" She started.

"Kimihiro Watanuki!" A voice called harshly. A chill ran up the girl's spine. She knew that voice! "Is that all you have to say?!"

"What?!"

"There you go again! Can't you say anything else? Ug." Watanuki and the girl both looked up as Ame-Warishi dropped out of the sky with her umbrellas, Goth loli and all. The sprite landed on the roof and closed her umbrella with a snap.

"Ame-Warishi!?" The sprite smacked Watanuki on the head with her umbrellas as she spoke. "Gah!"

"You dummy!"

"Ow!" The girl rubbed her head.

"I have no idea what she sees in you!" The rain sprite sighed, resting her weapon on her shoulder. "AND YOU!" She turned on the flying girl. "You're completely missing the point!"

"About what?" The girl asked, apparently knowing the sprite.

"About the Obon gift! It's about honoring one's ancestors, the deceased! It's a custom that's exclusive to the human world. Giving someone a gift because you like them is a completely different holiday altogether!" The fling girl's face went from confusion to shock in an instant, clapping her hands over her mouth.

"Oh no! I messed up!"

"I swear, you're the most dimwitted girl I've ever met! The two of you were made for each other!" Ame-Warishi sighed, hands on her hips.

"Um, I'm lost. What's going on?" Watanuki asked, looking between the two girls.

"I don't know what to say! How embarrassing!" The flying girl whimpered.

"Well, if you're an acquaintance of Ame-Warishi's then I guess you're a-"

"Zashiki-Warishi." The rain sprite filled in. (4)

"A protective sprite?!" Watanuki gasped. Zashiki-Warishi turned around and blushed deeply again, turtling into her shoulders.

"I don't know what's come over her, but she rarely visited a place so populated with humans. She can't stomach their ill-will and maliciousness." Ame-Warishi prattled on. The protective sprite flipped around again and started pulling on the rain sprite's sleeve urgently. "Which is why she takes refuge in the cold air of the mountains. The Karasu Tengu keep her company." (5) That bit of information clicked in Watanuki's brain.

"Oh I see. That's where these war-crazed goblins come in." Watanuki pointed to the five dwarves foating above her head and snapping their fans angrily.

"Yep." Ame-Warishi nodded.

"I'm coming for ya!" Mokona shouted, the bird diving bombing the tengu again with lots and lots of cross veins popping up on its head. Watanuki made a sympathetic face as the goblins were chased off again.

"Mokona! Leave them alone!" Watanuki called to the fur ball.

"Aaaawwwww! That's no fun!" The mokona whined in disappointment.

"Well," Ame-Warishi started, "We've got to go. I'm a busy lady."

"Yeah, I suppose so." Zashiki-Warishi agreed softly. The rain sprite opened up her umbrella and took her friend's hand. The three girls looked at each other, the zashiki-warishi and Watanuki looking at each other most of all. The seer didn't know what to make of a girl giving her a romantic gift, but she supposed it was somewhat like Wari and Doumeki's (supposed in her brain) relationship. Odd, but nice.

"Come. You know staying here too long is bad for you." Ame-Warishi reminded. They were ready to go. "So long, Kimihiro Watanuki." They were lifted up into the sky, both girls surrounded by fire flies with the tengu following close behind and shouting insults at Watanuki. They rose up into the sky and went through a vortex of fireflies, disappearing into the night with the bright lights. Watanuki was left standing on the roof alone with the glowing ohagi. At least the bird came back for her.

Once back at the park, the raven spotted Yuko making a sand castle in the sandbox, but the bird's landing, blew it over. Yuko didn't seem to mind too much and just stood up to greet her slave and Mokona. Watanuki jumped off the bird and Mokona jumped onto her head. And then the bird took off again, flying out into the night.

"Welcome back! How did things go?" Yuko asked, leaning into her hip and resting her hands on her waist.

"Well first we got chased by a group of Karasu Tengu…" grumped while shakily walking over to her boss.

"Bye, bye!" Mokona shouted, waving at its birdie friend and interrupting the raven-haired girl.

"Apparently, making someone cry is a serious offense because they were out for blood. And later Ame-Warishi showed up…that was fun." The seer reported sarcastically. "And then she returned the ohagi." Watanuki and Yuko both looked down at the floating sweet in the girl's hands.

"Oh, how romantic!~ Risking life and limb all so she could give her true beloved the last ohagi!" Yuko clapped her hands together and swayed from side to side, and then finished it off with a twirl and flicked up her stilettoed foot.

"Yeah, yeah." Watanuki replied, still trying to figure out how the heck Zashiki-Warishi knew her and knew enough about her to have a (maybe) romantic crush on her. It was odd…so odd, but it made Watanuki smile a little. At least she had one admirer, and she was nice too. Yuko spun up to the girl and poked her in the cheek.

"You little devil you! I can't believe that you got an ohagi from that Zashiki-Warishi!~ She must like you!"

"Yeah?" Watanuki blushed and tucked her hand behind her head. Mokona jumped high into the air and Yuko held out her hands to catch the falling fur ball. "Do you really think she's likes me? I mean, she's a girl!" But Watanuki was still blushing.

"Way to go!~" To Yuko and Mokona, it didn't matter who was a boy and who was a girl…it was all just a grand adventure!

"Wait-hold on!" Watanuki's good mood disappeared when she realized that the ohagi she'd received was hers. "Wasn't this the ohagi I made?!"

"That's right." Yuko's girly mood was replaced by her calm mood. "This ohagi has the distinction of being made by someone with the power to see spirits, then consumed by one who exorcises those spirits and finally, retrieved by a Zashiki-Warishi and lavished with all the affection in her heart."

Watanuki looked down at the remarkable ohagi and smiled at its glowing light. And then she realized something else.

"Seems like a lot of trouble for a snack." She sweat dropped, tipping her head as she scowled.

"In any event, you should hurry up and give that back to Doumeki." Yuko reminded the girl, walking towards the park bench where the unconscious boy lay. Watanuki flipped out.

"That's right! In the end, I don't get to eat this at all! And I have to give it back to the bastard who stole it!"

"Come on, this is no time to argue." Watanuki trudged over to the bench where Mokona was sitting with Doumeki and knelt on the ground, despondent and gloomy.

"She gave it to me! This is so unfair!" Watanuki grumbled.

"Place it above his stomach." Yuko instructed. Watanuki did as she was told and held the ohagi over Doumeki's torso and let it go. The glowing snack then grew brighter as it sank back into the archer's body, rippling into his shirt and skin and disappearing. Watanuki leaned forward towards the boy's face, resting her hand on the bench and waited. Her fingers were trembling, nervous that she was too late, that she hadn't been careful enough with the ohagi and a million other concerns. A few seconds later, Doumeki's eyes opened and he turned his head towards the relieved girl and was surprised to find that she was smiling at him. He sat up, surprised to see Yuko waving at him too. "Hi!"

"Uh, hi." Doumeki looked back between Watanuki and Yuko, watching his classmate stand up.

"What happened to your hair?" The brunette asked, looking at the bird's nest that was her pony tail. Watanuki squeaked like Zashiki-Warishi as her hands flew to her head, patting her probably wild hair. She then proceeded to pat down the rest of her windblown outfit and brushed off as much of the dirt as she could.

And while she was doing that, Doumeki's head kicked him in the brain.

"Here's where you thank me for saving your life." Watanuki prompted.

"My head is throbbing." Was all the archer said, rubbing his head again.

"Yeah!" Mokona piped up. "I bet!" Watanuki made and overly innocent face, remembering how she'd thrown Doumeki into the railing earlier and decided to _not_ tell him about that.

"Ooooo! Guess what?!" Yuko cooed, running and jumping onto the bench with Doumeki.

"What?" Doumeki asked, looking at the witch.

"I've got good news! Watanuki was the recipient of a special ohagi from a cute girl!~"

"Ohagi?"

"And you went and ate it you big jerk! Ate it all!" Watanuki fumed.

"Am I missing something?" Doumeki asked, scratching his head in confusion (even if his face didn't show it).

"Do you want all the gory details?!" Yuko asked the archer excitedly.

"Sure."

"Truth is…" And then Watanuki wasn't pay attention to them, she was too busy watching a firefly lazily floating up and up and up until it disappeared into the night sky. "And then she said…and then she said…"

"Uh huh." Doumeki replied. "Wow."

"That's not even the best part!" Yuko sang.

"Okay…" And the story telling went on until Watanuki got fed up and wanted to go home. She'd been on a while ride today – being woken up at four, making loads of ohagi, dealing with hyper Yukos, having her heart soar as she went to Wari's and then having it crushed when he wasn't there to eat her last ohagi, and then Doumeki had to ruin it all and then his soul had gotten stolen and then she'd had to ride a huge bird, fight of Karasu Tengus and brush shoulders with Ame- and Zashiki-Warishi all to bring back Doumeki's soul. She was dead tired now. The girl snapped at Yuko to shut up and grabbed Doumeki's hand, yanking him to his feet and then pulled him so they'd start walking. Her hand fell away after the archer was walking next to her.

"Just look at all the trouble I had to go through for you!" The girl grumbled. I am never playing matchmaker again! It's just too much trouble!" The seer threw her hands in the air and huffed.

"You know, I didn't want you to play matchmaker." Doumeki said, drawing Watanuki's attention.

"Huh?" She asked.

"Before the girl showed up. I was fine right where I was." Doumeki was talking about how he was fine being with Watanuki, but she was thinking about the swing set.

"You were fine on the swing?" She asked. Doumeki sighed at her think-headedness and rolled his eyes.

"What was that for?!" The girl shouted.

"Okay, what do you want?" Doumeki asked, quickly changing the subject.

"What?" Watanuki asked back confused by his question and the conversation whiplash.

"This time you helped me." Doumeki stated. "So I need to give you something just to be fair. What'll it be?" The boy was being serious. And Watanuki was floundering. She stopped in her tracks, her face filled with shock and then buckled down to think about what she wanted, hand on her chin. She thought for several moments, trying to come up with something that she wanted but couldn't think of a single thing she'd want that jerk to do for her.

"I don't know! I'm going to have to take a rain check!" She admitted snarkily.

"Really?" Doumeki asked, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Yes! I can't think of anything good right now! I have a golden opportunity and I can't waste it because you're the one who's always saving me _all_ the time! This doesn't happen often!"

"Whatever." The boy just started walking away from the ranting girl.

"Hey! Don't just leave when I'm talking to you!" She pestered, running after him. "Hey! I wasn't done talking!"

"Well, I was done listening."

"You bastard! You're such and asshole, Doumeki!" The archer plugged his ears as Watanuki got going again. Yuko just laughed and rolled her eyes at them. She watched Watanuki rant and rave and watched as Doumeki tried to lift up her skirt discretely as a tease and then she blew up at him again, her voice even louder and more annoying as they left the park.

It wasn't until later when Watanuki realized she'd left her thermos at the park and had to get out of bed to run back to get it.

The next day when Watanuki walked into work, she had a letter. It was from Wari!

_Hi! I hope you're making the most of your summer break! How are things going with you? Don't work to hard! Take care! - Wari_

"He wrote me a letter! Ahhhh! I got one too!" Watanuki cooed, holding the piece of paper close to her heart, her face cute in her blush. "But…uh…" The girl flipped the letter over and looked at the mailing address. "I wonder why he sent it care of Yuko?" Watanuki was crying again.

"Who cares?" Yuko sighed, lounging on her couch in her red kimono with the white flower designs and the huge yellow bow. "Just get me some more wine."

"Get it yourself!"

To be continued...

Note 1: Hyakumonogatari (A Gathering of One Hundred Supernatural Tales) was a popular parlor game in the Edo Period. It was a Buddhist inspired game where people used three rooms, lighting 100 andon (those square lamps you see, its paper stretched over a frame, burning oil in a stone or holder on the inside of the frame) in the third room and positioning a single mirror on a table. When the sky turned its darkest, the participants would start telling ghost stories, scary folk tales, ghoulish encounters and supernatural encounters. When the story ended, the story-teller would walk through the second room and into the third room, extinguishing on andon, take a look in the mirror and then walk back to the first room. This continued with each story, the third room getting darker and darker as the participants neared the one hundredth tale, creating a safe haven for the evocation of spirits. However, the game was usually halted at the 99th tale because the participants would fear invoking the spirits they had been summoning.

Note 2: Ohagi is a Japanese sweet that is made of rice that soaked for about six hours and then azuki [or anko] paste (sweet red bean paste) is hand packed around the pre-formed rice balls. Ohagi is a sweet that has a different texture of bean paste than Botamochi (which is basically the same thing. Botamochi is made in the spring and ohagi is made in the autumn but a lot of Japanese people now refer to both sweets as "ohagi." Another fun fact is that the name botamochi come from the Botan (peony) flowers that bloom in the spring and the Hagi (Japanese blush cover or Lespedeza) that blooms in autumn.

Note 3: The Obon Festival or just "Bon" Festival, is a Japanese Buddhist holiday to celebrate one's ancestors. It evolved into a family reunion holiday where people return to their ancestral family places and visit and clean their ancestors' graves. The spirits are said to visit the family shrines on this holiday. The festival lasts three days on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month. The Kanto region – Tokyo, Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures – celebrate Shichigatsu Bon by the Gregorian calendar on July fifteenth, Eastern Japanese go by the old calendar and celebrate Hachigatsu Bon (the most common time) in August and Kyu Bon's (Old Bon) time frame changes every year due to the lunar calendar and is most common in the northern part of the Katno region – Chugoku, Shikoku and Okinawa prefectures. This festival had been celebrated in Japan for over five hundred years and ohagi is the celebratory snack.

Note 4: A zashiki-Warishi is a spirit that is said like notice, and must be cared for as one would raise a child (like Ame-Warishi takes care of Zashiki-Warishi), but too much attention will drive it off. The sprite is child-like in disposition and is prone to playing harmless pranks and tricks (sorta like when Zashiki-Warishi stole Doumeki's soul, she didn't think she'd hurt anybody). Zashiki-Warishi can be found in old, well-maintained houses and once a sprite resides there, it brings the residence good fortune and if the sprite ever leaves, the house will fall into a steep decline and ruin.

Note 5: Karasu (meaning crow, blackbird or raven) Tengu (heavenly dog) are considered a type of Shinto god or yokai. The tengu are spirits who look like birds of prey, or are a mix of avian and human characteristics. The first tengu were pictured with beaks, which were humanized and evolved into long, goblin noses that you see on those scary red masks in Japan. Buddhism long held that tengu were very disruptive demons and the harbringers of war (much like Zashiki-Warishi's friends), but their image was gradually softened into protective – and still dangerous! – spirits of the forests and mountains (where Zashiki-Warishi lives).

A/N: And that's all folks! Let me know what you think in the comments! :3


	8. The Vacation and The Wings

A/N: ZareEraz here! Heyo everybody! Okay, okay...this time you can thrown bricks at me! (*ducks under handmade fort with her brother's lacrosse helmet and a bat for defense*) Its been a while, because I had school essays to write and I just wasn't in the mood to do any typing for a couple of weeks so I apologize for my negligence and hope that the wait was worth it! Enjoy!

Chapter Seven: The Vacation and The Wings

There were bells in the air – high, soft, tinkling bells that chanted out a simple tune. Along with the bells there was the scratch of writing. The one writing was doing so on the gray walls, her words etched into the surface with a blue luminescence. Those words she so loving carved into the wall were whispered with such reverence and joy in the still air.

_Soon…_

_Soon you'll be here._

_I've been waiting for such a long time…_

_And now…_

_I hear your footsteps approaching. _

_Soon, you will be at the door. _

_You will find me again…_

_Finally…_

_Finally…_

_You have come for me._

The sun was blazingly hot when Yuko walked up to the rental house she had acquired for a short break, the woman's heels clacking on the ground as she approached. Today, she was wearing a high-collared, light purple crop top, a long pink skirt with a white belt and a huge, white sun hat with a gigantic rose sewn into the corner of the crown and the brim.

"Well…here we are." The witch stood in front of the two story building with her right hand on her hip and the other holding Mokona. "It's simply perfect, isn't it?"

"Yeah! This should be fun!" Mokona agreed. Yuko giggled, holding up her hand to her mouth.

"I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun for you guys." Watanuki grumbled behind the cackling pair. The girl was stuck with most of the luggage – bags and bags of clothing, food and essentials (and probably some non-essentials and alcohol in Yuko's case) – all thrown over her shoulders. She had a backpack on her back, two totes hooked around each of her arms, a cooler slung from the left of her body to her right, two bags in the opposite direction and then she was holding several more bags in her angry fists. "Of course, no one's treating you like a pack mule!" The seer grumbled.

"Pretty sad pack mule if you can't handle a few bags." Yuko quipped, turning around in her fabulous sun hat, her hand perched on her hip. "Don't be such a whiner…right?" She turned to Mokona slyly.

"Riiiight!" The fur ball answered cheerfully.

"Carrying all this junk would tire anybody out, not just me!" Watanuki held up the bags in her hands as proof. She was tired, she was sore and she was sweating like a pig under her white color shirt and she was pretty sure that if someone looked closely, they'd be able to see sweat rolling down her legs from under her blue skirt.

"Really?" Yuko asked, her gaze switching to something behind her exhausted slave. "Because Doumeki seems to be doing just fine." Watanuki looked back, a disbelieving look on her face as she watched the two boys walk up behind her. Doumeki was carrying two bags (one in each arm) and Wari was walking next to him carrying nothing at all. Doumeki was still wearing his school uniform – white shirt and black slacks – but Wari had changed it up a bit, wearing a bright yellow T-shirt and jeans with flip flops.

"Thanks for carrying my bags up here, Doumeki. You didn't have to do it but I really appreciate it." Wari smiled cheerfully, thanking his classmate.

"No prob." Doumeki replied coolly. Watanuki blushed – from the heat, from her anger at Doumeki for being Doumeki and in affection at Wari being so cute (even if it was towards the jerkass).

"If it was Wari's luggage, I'd happily take ten or twenty bags." Watanuki grumbled in response. She'd do anything for Wari and that was that, it didn't matter if it was carrying bags, cooking or climbing a mountain…she'd do it, damn it!

"Hey, everyone! Watanuki just told me she'd happily carry all of our things!" Yuko called back to the boys gleefully.

"I didn't say that!" Watanuki growled, her sharp teeth coming out as she waved a bag in Yuko's face angrily.

"Sure, why not." Doumeki replied, holding out Wari's yellow duffle bag. "If that's what you want…then here."

"That is not what I want!" Watanuki snarled at the archer, a cross vein popping out of her head.

"You're really strong Watanuki! I'm surprised you can carry all that!" Wari smiled again. "I don't think I could!"

"Oh it's no trouble!" Watanuki dashed over to Doumeki and took Wari's bag off his hands with a smile. "Aha! Uff!" Watanuki's arm was dragged down as the heavy weight of the boy's bag got the better of her. The top half of her face turned blue as she speculated on what her crush had in there. "What could he possibly have in here!?" She whispered, and then turned and winked sexily at Wari. "Don't worry, I've got this, no problem."

"Moron." Doumeki breathed.

"What did you say, jerkface?!" Watanuki got right into Doumeki's face, snarling viciously and sarcastically at the same time. Wari laughed and ran up the path to get a better look at the house.

"Let me guess: this is the rental house we're going to be staying in?" Wari asked Yuko as he came to a stop by her side.

"Yep. It's been so hot lately that I thought a trip to the beach was in order. You kids should enjoy your summer vacation, so here's your chance." The witch replied. Watanuki took this moment to get a better look at the house too. It was two stories high with a white and brown theme to the exterior with two sloping roofs – one on the second floor and one that wrapped around the front of the house. It was nice enough, plain but still nice. _What summer vacation? I've been working the entire time! _Watanuki complained in her head, but she put on a smile on the outside.

"This is going to be great!" Watanuki scowled again after that, glaring at Doumeki. "Although…it would've been even better if we had left this jerk at home!" She swung her bags in Doumeki's direction and the force of all that weight on her body spun the girl around and around as she "whoa-ed" and ah-ed," trying to keep what little balance she had left.

"Carrying all those bags must be exhausting." Yuko staged, walking up to the slouched girl as she stopped spinning. Watanuki looked up and got a face full of boobs and Mokona.

"No, its fine." She snarked back. "I'm not even a little tired. Yuko leaned in closer as the girl learned away, a sly twinkle in her eyes.

"Oh, just ask him! I'm sure Doumeki would be willing to help!" Yuko prompted mischeviously.

"I don't need his help!" Watanuki growled, straightening up under her heavy load and huffed towards the rental house.

"Not even a little bit?" Yuko teased as the girl stomped away. She followed close behind (she had the key to the house after all).

"NOT AT ALL!" The girl retorted.

"It would be easier if you'd just aaasssk!" Yuko sang softly.

"Not gooonnnaaa haaapen!" Watanuki sang back, her attitude taking a turn for the worse.

"You really are a moron." Doumeki said, watching the girl stomp towards the door with the witch. Watanuki heard that and stormed back to the where the boy was standing as quick as lightning and got in his face again.

"I'm sick and tired of hearing that! No matter what I do, you always call me a moron! Even now, when I'm the one who's carrying _everything_! What do I do?! What's up with you and your one puny bag!? You're just so damn calm, you never break a sweat!" Watanuki's rant went on, and Doumeki just plugged his right ear with his free hand. Yuko wasn't paying any attention either and just stood at the door.

"Shall we go in?" Yuko asked to no one in particular. "You have the key Mokona?"

"Aha!" Mokona fished it out from somewhere and held the ornate, golden key in the air triumphantly. It handed the key to Yuko and she went to open the door, sliding the lock with a click.

"You always have the same blank expression on your face!" Watanuki finished, just as Yuko opened the door.

_Its hot…_

_The summers here are always so withering. _

_I have a flower for you…_

_A blue flower in a blue vase…_

_I wanted the house to look nice, _

_For your arrival. _

_But it's so hot…_

_I'm worried the flower might…_

_Die. _

_I'll give it some fresh water. _

_Maybe that will keep it alive a while longer._

Yuko and Mokona went in the house first, followed by Doumeki and Watanuki (who was still yelling at the boy). Watanuki stopped yelling when she ran out of breath and looked around the house with the others. It was a spacious house and all of them were standing in a sitting room with two couches, a coffee table and the carpet under them, with only a few extra decorations. Yuko was busy pulling open the white curtains that hung over the windows, letting the sun in after many months of darkness. The house was done in a olive-like green with lots of wood, making the whole place seem inviting even if it had been vacant for a long time. Watanuki dropped her bags on the floor, grateful to have the crushing weight of everyone's stuff off her shoulders and back. She sighed and made sure that Doumeki wasn't watching before rolling out her shoulders and working a few knots out of her neck

"Isn't it wonderful?" Wari asked, a huge smile on his face as he looked around. Mokona was hopping up and down on the table in excitement, humming a little tune as Yuko finished with the curtains.

"Yes, it is." Yuko replied, walking past the table, setting her sun hat down as she walked towards the stairs. The stairs went up to the second floor where the bedrooms supposedly were, hugging the wall and leaving the sitting room's ceiling completely open up to the roof. "And it's certainly been taken care of." Watanuki looked at the grandfather clock standing in the hall way and noted that it was only a little after three before her musing was interrupted by Wari being incredibly cute.

"Come on! Let's go check out the upstairs!" The curly-haired boy called down to Mokona, already half way up to the second floor himself.

"Yeah!" The pork bun agreed. "Hup!" It jumped down off of the coffee table and followed after the teen with a laugh. Watanuki smiled at Wari's excitement, a light blush dusting her cheeks and watched the pair disappear into the rooms upstairs, then she wandered off to see where the kitchen was. She found it immediately and looked around with a huge smile of her own. The countertops were clean and well-maintained, and there was an island in the middle of the kitchen along with a full stove, a sink and an oven, which stood waiting for her.

"Now this is a gorgeous kitchen!" The raven's shoulders slumped as a sweat drop appeared on her head. "Why do I feel the need to check out the kitchen before seeing anything else? Probably because I'm the only one who cooks…oh well. Time to start unloading." Watanuki grabbed the cooler-bags that held their food and plopped them down on the countertop by the sink. She then reached over to the faucet to make sure the water was turned on, but when she tried to turn the handle, it wouldn't budge. The girl looked down at the sink and scrunched up her face as she tightened her grip and continued twisting until she could feel the blood start to leave her hand from the force of her tugging. She snarled and twisted harder until she heard something in her wrist snap, pain popping up her arm.

"Ow! That hurt!" She gasped, holding onto her wrist as if she could keep the pain bottled up. "Ow! I twisted my wrist!" She whined, trying to move her fingers. Sparks of discomfort shot into her hand and wrist, but nothing seemed to be strained and the girl started turning back to the sink handle to give it a piece of her mind when her eyes slid over something blue. There was a flower in a blue vase in the corner of the counter, its blue petals odd and strangely beautiful as it sat in the water. Watanuki couldn't seem to take her eyes off it for a moment, staring at the deep blue flower and wondering what type it was and if she could find more somewhere…it was really pretty. And then the rush of water distracted the girl and her space out was interrupted by someone she hadn't even heard come into the room, her head whipping to look behind her.

"Wow." Doumeki mocked in his monotone voice. "You've been working out." He'd just turned the sink water on and shut off the valve when he was satisfied that it worked. Watanuki started at him for a moment in surprise, not knowing when he got here but that slightly smug look on his face pissed her off too quickly for her to be startled for long.

"I'd just grabbed hold of it! I wasn't even trying yet!" The girl snapped at the archer, her sharp teeth bared at her unwanted company.

"Wow! This place is really close to the beach!" Wari called from the other room, having come down the stairs with one of his bags. "You could leap off one of the balconies upstairs and land right in the water!" The boy giggled and Watanuki really hoped that the beach was actually further away than that, for her own sake.

"Yes…swimming is really the only way to escape this heat." Yuko explained. "Did you remember to bring your swimsuit? We're going to hit the beach tomorrow."

"Sure did!" Wari replied, walking back up the stairs again, probably going to put his stuff in his room.

"Well, that's good, right?" Yuko asked, turning her head towards Watanuki (who was peeking out of the kitchen).

"Yeah!~" Watanuki held up a sparkling thumbs up and winked at the witch.

_At last…_

_I've waited so long. _

_Now here you are…_

_I hope you like my gift, _

_Isn't it beautiful?_

_I wonder if you smiled. _

Watanuki walked upstairs to put her own things away, getting slotted into the furthest room down the hallway and on the right. She opened the door and walked into the room. The bed was in the right corner, a dresser on her left side and a balcony that led outside was right in front of her at the end of the room. "The bedrooms are nice." Watanuki stated, throwing her bag on her bed and walking over to throw open the curtains. Bright, summer sunshine cascaded into the room, and Watanuki caught her first glimpse of the sea (since she'd been arguing with Doumeki the entire car ride up and didn't once look out the window. Seriously, being in the same car with him was infuriating because he took up so much space with his big frame and she'd gotten squished and then told him to scoot over and she swore he just scooted closer and then she was yelling and Wari was laughing at them and their "act" and Mokona wouldn't stop teasing her and the girl had gotten so distracted that she hadn't seen the sea at all). The raven opened the doors and walked out onto the small balcony, leaning her arms on the red rails that kept her from falling off. The sea was a bright blue, sparking under the sun and several seagulls were calling in the afternoon air. The clouds were all white and puffy and the girl just sighed in enjoyment. It was so peaceful here and she really had needed a vacation…but the only thing about her job that was different was the location. She was still going to have to cook and clean up after everyone…by herself…again. But she pushed those thoughts out of her head and took a deep breath.

"Smell that sea air!" The girl smiled and listened to the waves washing up against the shore and then she thought about all the fun they were going to have tomorrow on the beach. Her light blush returned as she thought of Wari in only a swim suit…his beautiful body naked from the waist up and how gorgeous he was going to look playing in the water. And then her fantasy came crashing down when she remembered that she wasn't going to enjoy the beach at all. "Ug…but the _ocean_. "

The girl's face turned blue and her stomach did flip flops just thinking about that wasteland of water. _All those souls who lost their lives out at sea are waiting for me! _The girl groaned, imagining a whole hoard of creepy crawlers and wasted spirits lurking under the surf, ready to pounce and drag her down to a watery grave. The girl ran her hands around her scalp, messing up her already messy hair as the stress of dealing with spirits aggravated her. And then she calmed down and though about good things, leaning her elbows on the railing.

"Oooohhh…but, but…it's such a perfect opportunity to spend time with Wari!" She cooed, blushing again. "Huh?" The girl looked out over the perfect ocean, turning her head to the left to look around the side of the house. Something was pricking the back of her mind, that one of those stinging itches she got sometimes. It was like she was over looking something, like a presence on the edge of her vision, that she couldn't quiet reach. She didn't even know what it was that was bugging her. "What's going on here? It's kinda creepin' me out. I don't like it." The girl grumbled.

"What?" A deep male voice asked. The seer was startled out of her thoughts and flailed around, her elbow slipping off the railing so she collapsed half way over the side and had to jump back quickly so she didn't fall off the second floor.

"Gah!" Watanuki yelped, pulling herself up and clutching at her chest from her near-fall. Watanuki looked over at the unwanted intruder and saw Doumeki leaning against his balcony to her right. He was half-sitting on the rail, his right wrist resting against it as well and looking completely unfazed by Watanuki's over reaction.

"What's bothering you?" Doumeki asked.

"That the person in the room next to mine is YOU!" Watanuki pointed an accusing, angry finger at the boy and then started twirling around and waving her fists in a childish tantrum. "UG! Why don't you just _move_?! I wanted to be next to Wari!"

"Calm down. He's in the room across the hall." Doumeki replied, taking the fit in stride.

"Across the hall isn't the same as right next to! It's less intimate! You'd realize that if you had a heart!" Watanuki insisted, her voice still screeching as she wailed at the unfairness that she was coupled with Doumeki…_again_, for heaven's sake! The girl stamped her feet twice to emphasize her point but Doumeki just wasn't getting it.

"I don't get it. What's the difference?"

"No way a person like you would ever understand." Watanuki huffed as she pivoted on her heel and folded her arms, turning her back towards the boy.

"Fine. Whatever you say." Doumeki left, walking back into his room.

"That's right! Go away!" The girl shot back, wanting to have the last word as she yelled at the spot where the brunette used to be.

_I wonder if you've realized yet. _

_I wonder if you're aware of my presence. _

_Please…_

_Tell me, dear. _

_I'm here…_

_Waiting for you. _

"Ah! That hit the spot!" Mokona cheered, rubbing its huge belly after having consumed the dinner Watanuki had just cooked them all. It was around five o'clock in the evening and Watanuki had been in the kitchen the whole time after her little conversation with Doumeki up in their respective rooms. She was currently standing next to Yuko's seat at the head of the table as the witch wiped her mouth daintily with her napkin, with Mokona in the seat to her left and Doumeki next to the furball and then Wari on her right. Watanuki just stood there in her apron and head handkerchief, a towel thrown over her arm making her look even more like the help and less like a guest herself.

"Everything was delicious. My compliments to the chef." Yuko said gratefully, her belly satisfied after such a lovely meal.

"Ah," Watanuki smiled at the compliment. "Would you like another plate, Wari?" The girl turned to her crush and smiled even bigger. Wari looked up at her from his seat and smiled as well.

"No, I'm full. Thank you so much, Watanuki. Everything was fantastic."

"Oh, it was nothing but I'm glad you liked it!" The girl sang, wiggling back and forth in pleased embarrassment with her hand behind her head. And then she stopped wiggling when a plate was shoved into her face from a table away.

"I'll take some more." Doumeki said.

"I wasn't talking to you, you stupid pig!" Watanuki snarled back. "Just how much were you planning to eat!? I slaved over this meal and when the hell was I going to sit down and eat! I haven't had any yet!" She harped.

_I'm right here…_

_Close enough to touch._

_I wish you would notice me._

_When will you my dear?_

_I gave you a flower…_

_I'm waiting for you, my love. _

Watanuki finally got to eat after Doumeki had fifths and then shooed everyone outside onto the balcony while she scarfed down her food and worked on dessert at the same time after opening Yuko's bottle of champagne and putting it in a bucket of ice to keep it cool for her. Mokona and Yuko both took a glass and drank it down in a few gulps, sighing in glee.

"Ah!" Mokona and Yuko said simultaneously.

"I love a glass of champagne after dinner!~" Yuko said satisfactorily.

"Oh yeah!~" Mokona agreed.

"I think we all know how much you two like to get toasty. All that I ask is that you pace yourself!" Watanuki said, walking in with a tray of goodies and a smile. "Here you go, Wari! I made you some champagne sorbet! Don't worry, I used the non alcoholic kind." Watanuki slid a wide dish with a stem and the cool treat onto the table where Wari was sitting.

"It looks yummy!" The boy smiled and Watanuki just couldn't handle the cuteness with the sun and the sea behind the teen. Watanuki clapped her hand over her mouth and nearly started crying from the moe. _He is so unbelievably adorable! _

"Hey, I'll take some of that stuff too." Doumeki said from across the table. Watanuki's pose of cuteness morphed into a grimacing, fist-shake of irritation at the sound of the archer's voice. _He's not adorable at all!_ The rest of what was left of the afternoon was spent outside with the five of them just relaxing, even Watanuki got to sit down and chat (or yell in Doumeki's case) with her classmates. Before they knew it, the sun was setting on the horizon, turning the blue ocean into an expanse of gold waves and silver splashes as the water washed up on the beach, the sky a brilliant orange and yellow above it.

"Alright. Why don't we get to bed so we can have an early start tomorrow?" Yuko suggested, tipping the empty champagne bottle upside down in its bucket and picking up Mokona as she stood.

"That sounds like a good plan." Wari agree, standing up. "I was wondering…" He started, looking at Watanuki. "Watanuki, do you want to go swimming with me tomorrow?" Watanuki couldn't believe her ears! Wari had just asked her to go swimming with him! It was a dream come true. The girl smiled excitedly and nodded her head vigorously, not really lying but not telling the truth either. She wasn't planning on swimming tomorrow, the risk of being caught by an underwater spirit was too great to even attempt getting into the ocean, but she wanted to make Wari happy so the seer pretended like she was going too.

"Sleep well!" She called to Wari as he walked back into the house, and she kept waving like and idiot as a fantasy took over her entire brain. _We're going swimming together! We're going swimming together! We're going swimming together! _Carousel horses danced around the girl as she fawned.

"Hey." Doumeki interrupted the girl's moment by gliding by on one of the horses and the girl scowled, her temper snapping again.

"Grr! I was having a private moment! Why do you have to interrupt!?" The girl held up both of her clenched fists in Doumeki's face as the archer just stood there looking the same as always. When neither of them said anything, Watanuki stood up normally and looked Doumeki in the eye. "Wait. What's going on?"

"Would you just ask me for help?" Doumeki asked. Now Watanuki was confused. _Is he asking about the dishes? _

"WHY SHOULD I!?" The girl screeched, holding out both of her hands like an answer would plop right into them. "I don't need your help with this stuff! It's just a few dishes; I can clean them up fine by myself!" _What's the deal with him?! _Doumeki stared at the girl like she was an idiot and completely missing the point of the question.

_ "_Moron." He sighed and then walked away.

"Wha…" The girl gasped at his preferred insult for her and even though he said it all the time, this time it was like he was disappointed in her and she didn't even do anything wrong! "That's it! See if I make any breakfast for you tomorrow!" She taunted to his broad back as the brunette walked inside. "You ass!"

Watanuki cleaned up the dishes without any trouble at all and then went upstairs to get ready for bed. She marched right past Doumeki's room and stuck her tongue out at the closed door, hoping the boy could feel her annoyance at him. She then walked by Wari's room and smiled, hoping that boy would notice her love someday. And then she stomped to her own room, threw on a pair of blue pants, and a blue tank top before hopping into bed and falling asleep, the weird feeling she'd felt before in this room only a distant reminder as her eyes drifted shut and she nodded off.

_I'm still waiting, my dear. _

_I'm wearing the blue dress you like so much, _

_Do you remember?_

_I'm wearing it just for you, my love. _

_There's something I want you to do…_

_I'm waiting…._

_I'm waiting…_

_I'm waiting…_

_I'm waiting!_

Watanuki was sleeping soundly in her room, being horrified by a dream about champagne, sea monsters, and carousel horses all dancing around her in a chaotic fashion when something woke her up. _Scritch, scratch. _The girl shifted in her sleep, disturbed by the sound and when it came again, she woke up. Blearily sitting up, the girl untangled herself from her sheets and blinked at the blurry room. There was nothing in there as far as she could see.

"Must be my imagination…" Watanuki yawned as she flopped back on her bed. _Scritch, scratch, scritch. _"Or not!" The girl shot back up, and looked around again, wide awake this time. _Maybe it was Doumeki moving around in the next room…_The raven knelt on her bed and turned towards the wall she shared with Doumeki, putting her ear to it and resting her hands on either side of her face. She couldn't hear anything coming from his room, not even the jerk shifting in his sleep. _Scritch, scratch! _Watanuki's eyes shot wide as she flipped around to stare at the other wall, the one wall she didn't share with anybody. She carefully and quietly inched off her bed and walked towards the other side of the room, forgetting to put her indoor slippers on in her cautious state. The girl gingerly put her ear against the wall and listened. _Scratch, scritch, scratch! _

"It's coming from next door!" She gasped, leaping away from the wall, quietly, of course. She decided to double check, because, there was no one next door. Of course, there wasn't! That would be silly since she was at the end of the hallway! Watanuki cupped her ear with her hands and stuck her face to the wall again, listening. _Scritch, scratch. _Watanuki really jumped back this time, strangling a yelp as she stared in horror at her wall. She stumbled backwards across her room, trying to get as far away from the creepy sound as possible and nearly fell over when her feet hit her bed. She slipped on her indoor slippers and glasses and looked at her door. "Alright."

The girl opened her door with a creak, the sound entirely too loud to her ears and she hoped that it hadn't woken anyone else up. She looked down the hallway; a blank wall stared back at her face. There couldn't be someone on the other side of her wall because there was a wall blocking the way to the other side of the wall…if that made any sense in the first place! "I'm at the end of the hallway…ah!" Watanuki gasped when she remembered looking out of her window earlier that day and ran across her room, threw open her curtains and doors and nearly leapt out onto her balcony. The raven grabbed the red railing and planted her feet on the bottom support, leaning out over the edge, her wild bed head blowing in the cool sea breeze. She looked to her left at the corner of the house, studying how the outside of the house was so much longer that in the inside. Something wasn't right here. _The hallway stops there…so why does the wall continue past it? It's almost like there's a secret room…_she thought as she continued looking at the house under the pale moonlight. _Scritch, scratch, scritch. _Watanuki gasped again, this time in real fear and she clamped her hand over her mouth as she stumbled back into her room.

_Is it a spirit? It sure feels like one! _The prickly feeling that the girl had been having from the second she enter the house was back, this time in full force. _If it is, it might be something that can hurt Wari! I can't let that happen! I have to find out what's going on! _Watanuki threw down her hands and clenched her fists, completely serious now as she fought down her fear. She swallowed once and then peeked out of her room again. Watanuki took just a moment to look at Doumeki's closed door, debating whether or not to wake him up and have him come with her. If it was a spirit, he could ward it off and she'd be safe…_No! I don't need his help! I can do this by myself! Besides, I was doing just fine before he was shoved into my life! I can handle things on my own! _In all honesty, Watanuki was scared just how much she relied on Doumeki now. She really would've asked him for help, if only her pride didn't get in the way and that was shocking to the girl. She'd never had to rely on someone so much for anything like she was doing with Doumeki now, and he'd probably tease her if she asked for help anyway, so who needed him?!

Watanuki glanced at Wari's door and mustered up her courage again, scanning the end of the hallway. It just looked like a normal hallway, there was nothing creepy about it…except the fact that the house didn't match up inside to outside. _There's nothing here that looks like a door…could this really be where the scratching sound is coming from? _Watanuki took a few tentative steps towards the wall and cupped her ear to listen again for the sound. What she wasn't expecting was the wall to give out on her. The girl crashed to the floor, hitting her head on the ground and stunned that she'd fallen.

"What the hell…? What happened?" The girl rubbed her head with one hand and picked herself up into a kneel with the other, still on her knees as she massaged the slight bump that had formed under her hair. Paper fluttered down around her as the girl looked up. Right in front of her way the door she'd been looking for. "A hidden room!" She gasped. The girl knee-crawled over to the door and stuck her ear to it, listening, and then jumped back as the scratching sound got louder. There was definitely something in there. Watanuki turned around one more time to look at Doumeki's door, wanting to ask…nope. The girl steeled herself and stood up, grabbing the door knob and opening the hidden room.

She opened the door slowly, the accompanying creak sounding even louder than the last one as she peeked inside. The interior of the room was pitch black, like a void where spirits could be hiding anywhere so Watanuki left the door wide open to let in as much of the moonlight filtering in from her room as she could. She could make out piles of what seemed to be furniture in the room, but everything was still so dark. She took a few steps in. _Scritch, scratch. _Watanuki gasped, hands flying to her mouth as she looked around the room for the culprit behind the scratching. Damn! She couldn't see anything! The girl swallowed again, trying to get moisture into her dry mouth and held out her hands as she walked into the room a little more, trying to avoid crashing over something and waking everyone else up. Her hands hit a wall, something solid and real, and Watanuki walked along it, sliding her hands along the wall for balance. She took about seven steps before she noticed something really weird about the wall…it wasn't smooth. The girl stopped walking and leaned in closer to see, running one of her fingers over a rough patch, trying to muddle out what it was. When she did, the wall started to glow. She jumped back in terror.

The wall was carved on, the letters left behind illuminating themselves in a pale purplish-blue and semi-lighting the dim room. Watanuki's knees started shaking as she took a few steps back, tilting her head back to see that there were letters on the ceiling too. _How did they get up there?! _She took another step back and hit something, her balance being thrown off and she flailing to right herself. And then the scratching sound came from behind her…_scritch, scratch. _Watanuki froze, rigid with fear as she slowly turned to head to see what it was, eyes wide, breath short and the prickly feeling running cold fingers up her spine. _There! _On the far side of the room there was a pile of something that didn't look like furniture. It started moving and Watanuki choked on her scream. The pile of whatever it was was convulsing on the floor, wave after wave of movement revealing a blue dress and a head of stringy gray hair. The thing lifted off the ground like a circus contortionist, shoulders first then arms and finally the head flopped into place. Then the spirit fell forward and started crawling on the floor, toward Watanuki. The girl was too scared to move, her mouth making quiet noises of distress without really being any help at all. The spirit threw one arm closer, and then another and Watanuki finally, _finally_ took a step back. Then, the spirit started moving its head again, looking up as the gray hair parted and reveal one, dead, blue eye, staring up at the girl. And then it pounced, one of its hands reaching out and grabbing Watanuki's left ankle and the girl yelped and tried to yank her foot out of reach but she tripped in the dark, falling on her back and losing one of her slippers.

"No…no…nonono!" Watanuki gapsed, and whimpered, kicking at the spirit's hand wrapped around her ankle in a death grip. She kicked again and again and her foot slid off her ankle and down the spirit's arm, revealing skeletal white bones hidden under the dress. Watanuki let out a strangled croak instead of the powerful scream she wanted and flipped over on her stomach, fear urging her to crawl away as fast as she could. She threw one arm over the other (not as fast as she'd like because her body was still not cooperating with her and was stiff with terror instead) and got about three feet before another dark shape loomed over her. Its feet were planted right in her path and Watanuki didn't know if she was going to be able to deal with two spirits out for her blood.

"Watanuki." The dark form said, it's even voice familiar but Watanuki was too far gone with horror that she didn't recognize it right away. Instead…she really did try to scream this time and threw her hands over her head as if that was going to protect her. And then her scattered yelps faded away as she looked up, puzzlement on her face as Doumeki looked down at her.

"Just ask." The archer sighed. Watanuki didn't care what he was saying right at the moment, her brain was still stuck on the spirit holding her ankle.

"D-di-did y-you see that!?" Watanuki pointed behind her, completely forgetting that Doumeki couldn't see spirits. "That thing attacked me!" She looked back, expecting to see the skeletal horror gripping her ankle, but that's when she noticed that it was just a glove. "Huh? What the hell?!" Watanuki sat up, still apprehensive and looked more closely at the hand. And that's when the lights came on. The girl's head snapped around and saw Yuko's hand at the light switch. The witch was still in her outfit from today, not even having changed into sleep clothes like she'd expected to be out and about later.

"Even after all this you still won't ask for help. You're such a stubborn ass." Yuko stated, and Wari poked his head over her shoulder to see better. All Watanuki could do was stare at them.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." She said. And then the thing behind her started moving again. Watanuki whimpered and slithered away as the dress came up with the spirit's hair flying everywhere and then it all fell apart.

"Aw! I was found out!" Mokona whined, emerging from the blue dress, holding two pink poles with the spirit's glove-hands hanging off the ends. The pork bun had the hugest, shit-eating grin on its face. "Oh well! Heh heh heh heh heh!" The little bastard cackled at Watanuki (who was still shaking in the after math of almost having peed her pants in fear). And then her temper exploded.

"MOKONA!" The whole situation pissed her off and Watanuki shut her mouth after hitting Mokona on the head (a huge goose egg forming from the high impact) and she stomped past everyone, in a foul mood after having been tricked.

Yuko shrugged as Watanuki slammed her door shut and Wari just sighed. Doumeki didn't ask Watanuki for something this time for helping because, in all actuality, they'd staged this situation, so it wasn't fair for him to request something and he really didn't help at all because she hadn't asked for it. And that's why he let Watanuki storm into her room and slam the door, that stubborn idiot.

Watanuki was so pissed that she didn't even come out of her room the next morning…and she didn't make breakfast much to everyone's dismay so they all had to fend for themselves.

By the time the group set out to swim, Watanuki had come out of her room, but was still refusing to talk to anyone about anything and just moodily got the drinks ready for the beach and unpacked the towels, umbrella, Yuko's fold-up lounge chair and table and headed outside. She didn't say a word while she set everything up and was still silent when she went back inside to change into her swim suit and came out wearing a light pullover over her tasteful one piece. It was a suit that Yuko had helped her pick out, done in a teal blue with a V-neck collar and a white ribbon tied right in the center (where her boobs would be if she'd had a significant amount of those) and little white ruffles that hugged her legs where the suit ended. Watanuki plopped down on the huge towel under the umbrella, folding her arms around her knees and sulking. Yuko did the same thing in her purple one piece (the low neckline accentuating her huge chest), taking her seat under the umbrella and pouring herself a tropical drink from the pitcher Watanuki had brought out, complete with one of those tiny paper umbrellas. Doumeki and Wari walked past Watanuki toward the surf, but when the girl didn't look at them, they shrugged and ran into the waves. Doumeki was wearing blue swim trunks and a T-shirt and Wari went shirtless with white and red trunks. Mokona joined them in the water, floating with its little inner tube as the waves tossed it back and forth. Wari was busying splashing Doumeki (trying to get him to drop the beach ball so he could have it) when Watanuki finally spoke.

"So basically…this was all a set up!?" Watanuki asked begrudgingly, the first words she'd said all day accusing and venomous. She even had her fangs out.

"Well, I guess. If you want to put it simply." Yuko replied, swirling her drink.

"So you guys thought it would be funny to try and scare me?!" Watanuki shrieked. Yuko just sipped her drink through her straw, letting the outburst take its course. The girl leapt to her feet, the picture of defensive and yelled at the witch. "Just so you know: I didn't find it very FUNNY!"

"It wasn't my idea…Wari came up with it." Yuko started. That shut Watanuki up. "He felt sorry that you weren't going to be able to go swimming while we were here."

"What?" Watanuki asked, a slight blush on her cheeks from Wari's concern for her.

"You were the one who wanted to come here. It was your suggestion to take a vacation at the beach, but you knew you couldn't swim." Yuko took another sip of her punch. "You knew it was dangerous out there with the spirits of people who had lost their lives at sea. So I explained to Wari that you wouldn't be able to go swimming while we were here and he said, 'Isn't there something we can do for her?'" Yuko's voice went all sappy, trying to imitate Wari's charm. She failed, in Watanuki's opinion. "The sweet little thing asked that with all his heart."

"Wari wanted to find a way to help me with all his heart…" Watanuki's head snapped up with tears in her eyes and sparkles around her face. "This is wonderful!~"

"So I told him it was simple: all you had to do was ask Doumeki for help." Watanuki's cute face snapped into an expression of pissed off, irritated, loathing and disgust all at the same time, her hair standing on end. "I'm sure he would've agreed to keep you safe, he has the ability to do it and without those pesky spirits bothering you, you could've enjoyed yourself and gone swimming with your little boyfriend. Granted, only for one day, but at least you'd have a little vacation." Yuko shifted her glass, the ice clinking with the movment as she took another drink. Watanuki turned her head to glare at Doumeki, who was now throwing the ball back and forth between himself and Wari, looking as stone-faced as usual. "My compensation from Wari for the advice was that champagne from last night."

Watanuki was in la-la land, a stupid smile plastered to her face. "You mean he was willing to pay for my sake?~" And then la-la land disappeared. "But why?! Why does it have to be _him_!? Why does it have to be that jerkass that I have to ask for help?!" Watanuki poked angrily at Doumeki and Yuko just shrugged.

"We figured that you might feel that way so Wari came up with a plan, and Mokona was more than happy to help."

"Yeah, I bet." Watanuki grumbled, glaring at the fur ball.

"We were hoping to put you in a situation that would force you to ask for his help." Yuko took a drink, her cranberry eyes leveled on Watanuki. "In hindsight, we may have overdone it a bit. Together we planned out every little detail, and by the end of it you were completely terrified, but you still refused to give in."

"What are you talking about!? I didn't give in because I wasn't scared!" The girl blatantly lied.

"I'm sorry." Watanuki turned towards the newcomer to their conversation. Wari was standing in front of them, a sad look on his face. "I really am. I guess it would've been better if we had found a better way to do it. And now…you still won't be able to go swimming." Wari dropped his curly head a little, disappointment and compassion on his face.

"Don't worry about it." Watanuki shook her head. "It's okay." The girl walked up to her crush and was just about to comfort him with two gentle hands on his shoulders when she was interrupted.

"You know you could've asked last night when you were cleaning up after dinner." Doumeki interjected with his monotone voice, appearing in the middle of the conversation.

"I wasn't talking to you!" Watanuki yelled, forgetting the comforting hands and decided to strangle Doumeki's collar instead.

"Or when we overloaded you with our baggage." Yuko added.

"Yeeaaahhh!~" Mokona mocked, the little fur ball grabbing a drink. Watanuki was going to cook that little meat ball one day. At that point, drinks were handed around and they all sat down for a break. Yuko smoked her pipe as the teens all sat in the shade, Watanuki sandwiched in between the boys.

"So Wari, you came up with the whole plan? How did you think of it?" Watanuki asked.

"You remember that night we told ghost stories?" He asked. _How could I forget? I nearly died! _"I got the idea from something I'd read to prepare for that. They say it's a true story from around here."

"Ah, so you guys decided to recreate and urban legend." Watanuki was smiling now, pleased that she got to talk to Wari and ignore Doumeki.

"Yeah, apparently there was a woman who lived here who always wore a blue dress. She was locked in a room and wrote on a wall in blue ink: 'let me out of here.'"

"Blue ink?" Then Watanuki remembered the writing all over the room. And now the flower in the kitchen made sense too. "Oh! So that's why there was a blue flower waiting for me in the kitchen, huh? That was quite an impressive touch."

"Huh?" Wari responded.

"I mean, you were really prepared. I assumed you guys put up the paper wall when we got here and you ran upstairs, but when did you do the flower? Come on, you can tell me." Watanuki urged, still smiling.

"Dunno about that." Mokona piped up. Every head turned to the fur ball lounging on Yuko's lap. The creature turned to look at the classmates, and opened its black eyes. "We put up the paper wall and wrote on in the room with blue ink and everything, but I don't know about a flower." There was a moment of silence.

"Think about it." Doumeki started. "The flower was in a vase with fresh water when we got here, right? Remember when you were in the kitchen? You tried to turn the facuet on but…it was stuck. Like it had been a really long time since someone had used it. The flower, the water and the vase were all fresh, which makes me wonder…who put them there?" Doumeki was silence for a minute and then Watanuki spoke up, shivering despite the heat.

"Come on, just admit it!" Watanuki stood up and brushed off her swimsuit before taking the pitcher off of Yuko's table. "You called someone from the rental office ahead of time and they set it up before we got here! You're sneaky" The girl smiled, trying to hide her shivers. Watanuki started walking towards the house, taking the pitcher with her for more drinks when she looked up at the windows on the second floor. Something moved in the last room…but they were all outside….so who…?

"Who's that?" Watanuki breathed, her shivering becoming trembles that wracked her body. Someone was in the house. Someone she didn't know…and didn't want to know. The curtain moved and Watanuki watched as it was drawn back to reveal a figure…a woman. In a blue dress. She stared down at the girl with a wide, pale eye and Watanuki screamed…for real this time.

_Ah…I'm finally free…_

Everything went black as Watanuki crashed to the ground, the pitcher in her hand tumbling to the ground without breaking on the sand. Doumeki's head snapped up the second she screamed and he ran over to the girl just as she hit the sand. He was then cradling her in his arms, checking her sweaty face and neck to see what was wrong. Nothing was physically wrong with her but as Doumeki looked up to where the seer had been looking, he swore he saw the curtains close just as his gaze hit the window, but he couldn't be sure.

"What's wrong, Doumeki?" Wari asked, halfway to the pair with Yuko and Mokona following close behind.

"I think she fainted." He replied, hoisting the limp girl into his arms.

"Maybe she hadn't quiet recovered from yesterday's scare." Yuko started. "Or it could be something else. Either way, we need to get her inside." They all went inside, leaving everything out on the beach as Doumeki settled Watanuki down on the couch and arranged her long limbs so that she could be comfortable. Yuko went and got a cool, water soaked towel to put on the girl's forehead and they all took a break to wait for her to wake up. Ten minutes of waiting later and Watanuki's eyes flutterd open.

"I saw her…in that room…" She started.

"Watanuki, nobody's been in that room since last night and we were the ones in there." Doumeki said, stating the facts. He didn't discredit Watanuki's sight since she could see spirits and that ghost was probably up there for all he knew, but he didn't want to scare Watanuki even more. But the look he got said that Watanuki was pissed that he wasn't believing her and the girl struggled to her feet and padded off to her room without any help, steaming mad…again.

Later that evening, Watanuki walked out onto the beach, leaving the others to talk before she went to go make dinner. After her embarrassing fainting episode earlier, she was determined to prove that there was someone up in that room. She's yanked on her sandals and stomped outside in the blue dress she'd pulled on after her previous outfit got caked with sand when she'd fainted. She clumped down the stairs and into the living room where Doumeki, Yuko, Mokona and Wari were talking.

"So you're up now!~" Yuko said, turning her head towards the girl from her spot on the couch.

"Yeah, I'm up. What of it?" The girl asked irritability, swinging around the railing and towards the back door.

"Where are you going?" Doumeki asked, peeking around Wari to watch the girl.

"Out!" She hissed back, halting in her tracks and snapping her head around to give the boy a venomous glare.

"Ooo! Scary!~" Yuko sang.

"Watanuki, are you going to be okay?" Wari asked.

"I'll be fine." She toned down her mood for the boy, just brushing him off instead of yelling at him. Watanuki walked past the kitchen without another glance back and headed for the door.

"Do you need any help?" Doumeki asked, not trying to mock her but the girl took it that way anyway.

"Fuck off!" She called back angrily opening and slamming the door shut behind her.

"Ooo. She's not in a good mood." Yuko commented. "Just let her be for a little while and she'll calm down." Watanuki fumed at how Yuko just downplayed her frustration, but let it go because she didn't want to deal with it.

The girl ran down the stairs and to the beach, ignoring the beautiful, orangey-yellow sunset happening in front of her and when she got down to the sand, she backed up until she could see the corner room window. Where she'd seen that creepy lady before. The girl scrunched up her face to focus her vision and look up at the window. The curtains weren't moving now, still, as if no one were in there in the first place.

"Damn, what's going on this time?" Watanuki stood on her toes and strained too see _something_ in the window. "She was there earlier, I swear." The girl took a step back, thinking that the spirit might not appear if she was too close. And then she took another step back…and another…and another…until she was halfway down the beach. She was still squinting up at the window, the fading light making it even harder to see if there was a spirit up there. A sudden breeze picked up Watanuki's skirt and she slapped her hands down on her thighs to hold it down. And that's when she noticed it. The ocean washed over her feet, cool and smooth. And something slimy did too. Whatever it was, it whipped at Watanuki's feet, causing her to cry out and stumble.

Backwards.

Watanuki stepped back into the water, the high tide close enough to reach the fair distance it hadn't covered that afternoon and then…she was in the ocean. _She was in the ocean. _She could feel the spirits crowding in near her feet, Watanuki opened her mouth to scream but it was choked as a tentacle wrapped around her while she tried to run towards the beach, the house. She didn't get far. The sea spirit snagged her ankle, enclosing the girl in its grasp and pulled. She tripped, but didn't fall in the ocean, catching her balance before she hit the water. Once she was in the water she was dead. That was it. The spirits were going to swarm her and pull her down into the dark depths of the ocean and she'd drown. And that was it. Watanuki yanked on her ankle, trying to run back to shore, flailing her arms and hopping on one leg. She was getting further and further away no matter how hard she tried to get back to the house, her feet digging into the sand and kicking up clouds in the water. Now she was thigh deep in the water and it was getting higher. She tripped and crashed into the waves, choking on saltwater and soaked to the bone. Watanuki looked down for an instant, her hands clawing into the sand and saw what had a hold of her. It was a huge, squid-like spirit with a translucent body, with several times more tentacles than an actual squid and three mouths with gnashing, pointed teeth. So basically a living nightmare. And it was surrounded by other malicious spirits, the little demons swarming around the big one as it pulled on Watanuki and drifted further out to sea. Watanuki's mouth opened to scream, her air supply turning into bubbles as she desperately pulled herself above the water. And this time when she opened her mouth, she really did scream.

Just before she did, Doumeki walked outside to see what was keeping Watanuki from coming inside.

"Oi, Watanuki. You've been out here for fifteen minutes, and Yuko's hungry now…" When he looked out onto the beach he got quite a shock.

"DOUMEKI!" Watanuki screamed, falling into the ocean with a splash, water choking off the rest of her scream as it rushed into her open mouth. She reached for the archer, her arm popping out of the waves as she struggled to swim forward but was dragged backwards and down into the sea, her next scream flooded with water in her lungs.

Doumeki was moving in an instant. He leapt off the stairs and onto the beach, dashing across the sand as fast as he could. Just before he jumped into the water, he heard Wari and Yuko walk out; calling to see what was the problem. He didn't have time to tell them that Watanuki was underwater because he was jumping into the ocean himself, wading through the shallows and then diving into the waves. Doumeki stroked with his powerful arms, pushing himself down as he opened his eyes in the salty water. They stung, but he wouldn't close them, too worried to miss a single sign of Watanuki. He looked left and right and then down as the beach's surface dropped into the ocean floor dramatically and spotted Watanuki's struggling body being pulled down by something. And even if he couldn't see it, he knew it was one of those spirits that she'd been trying to avoid this entire time.

Watanuki was running out of air as she clawed at the tentacle slowly wrapping and tightening around her leg. She felt the darkness of suffocation crowding in on her vision, but kept trying to break free, but it was no use. She was dragged down to the ocean floor roughly, the spirit's arm smacking her into the sand and sending up a cloud. As she tried to get her bearings, Watanuki was mobbed by a swarm of tadpole-like spirits who leapt onto her skin and hair, their little teeth and claws sinking into her skin. She tried to cry out in pain and fear, but only bubbles left her mouth. That was the last of her air. The seer was fading fast as she was dragged along the ocean's floor, the tentacle on her leg sliding up even further to encase her thigh. She thrashed in the water and dispersed the little spirits from her hair, but as she did so, her head smacked a boulder sitting in the sand, effectively knocking the girl out. She was then towed back even faster (since she wasn't struggling any more) heading straight towards the squid spirit's huge maw, the other two mouths snapping in pleasure.

Doumeki swam faster than he ever had before, the muscles he'd trained through archery screaming with exertion. But he wasn't giving up or slowing down. The boy pushed harder, rocketing down to where Watanuki's limp form was. He reached her – his own air supply almost gone – when the spirit almost had her in its mouth (only he couldn't see it). The spirit shuddered at the exorcist's presence, but it wasn't giving up its prize so easily…that is, until Doumeki touched Watanuki's leg, right where the tentacle was. The spirit howled at the touch of the archer's pure aura, shaking the water around them, quaking the very sea. The squid let go of its prey, yowling again as it pushed off the ocean floor and swam out to sea. The other spirits followed the big one and Doumeki had to grab onto Watanuki's shoulders and torso to keep her close as they were jettisoned towards the beach by the sheer force of the squid spirit's undulation. Doumeki kept a tight grip on the unconscious girl, as they spun and twisted in the crazy currents of the water. He was dizzy when he opened his eyes, but immediately found which way was up and swam for the surface. They burst out of the water, the boy gasping for lungfuls of air as he pulled Watanuki out of the water. The boy cradled the girl to his chest, his arms under her knees and shoulders as he ran for shore. Wari was right there with him in the water, running towards the pair.

"Doumeki! Are you okay? Is she okay?" The boy reached the pair, his hands coming up to help, but falling short as he pulled away. Doumeki ran past Wari, heading towards the sand.

"I'm fine, but she's unconscious." The archer dropped to his knees when he hit the beach proper, laying Watanuki down on the sand and checking her pulse. He placed his fingers on her throat, moving to where the neck meets the head and waited for the flow of blood to push against his hand. It didn't come. Doumeki started to get slightly panicked and checked for breathing, tipping the girl's head back and placing his cheek next to her nose. She wasn't breathing either. He then quickly – and carefully turned the girl on her side and swept his fingers through her mouth to open up her air way and pushed against her stomach softly to see if she'd spit up water. She didn't. _Watanuki…wake up! _ He flipped her over again and pinched her nose shut, forcing down his own panic and placed his mouth over hers to give her five rescue breaths. Her chest moved up and down so there wasn't anything blocking her airway. Doumeki then placed his hands in between her breasts, one on top of the other and started doing chest compressions, trying to get Watanuki's pulse back. Each time he switched from breaths to compressions and Watanuki didn't respond was one more moment for Doumeki to panic, dread creeping up his spine. _Watanuki, don't you die on me! _Wari had already run around the house searching for a phone and couldn't find one and his cell was out of battery and Yuko, Doumeki _and_ Watanuki didn't own a cell phone. They were on their own.

_Shit. Watanuki, come on. Stay with me! _The boy flipped the unconscious, cold girl over on her side and gently pressed her middle again, trying to get her to vomit and finally there was a reaction. Watanuki sputtered; her mouth opening on its own and then she coughed. The girl's eyes shot wide open and she threw up all the sea water she had swallowed onto the side, hacking up her lungs and coughing violently. Yuko was patting her back, helping her get it all out and Doumeki's arms were around her torso, supporting her.

"Thank god, Watanuki." Doumeki breathed.

"You scared us." Yuko added. The girl blearily looked up and blinked and then passed out again. At least this time she was breathing. Doumeki carefully scooped the raven into his arms, deciding that she'd be better inside and Yuko and Wari followed close behind him. They went into the rental house, all of them worn out by the scare and before Doumeki could walk away, Yuko caught him with a question.

"What happened, Doumeki?" Yuko asked.

"I walked outside to see what was taking her so long and she'd been caught by a spirit. It was dragging her out to sea. She asked for my help." The archer replied, smiling softly as he carried up the girl up to her room.

"Finally!~ And I'm very impressed that you know CPR."

"My grandfather told me to always be prepared in every situation and resuscitating someone seemed like a logical step towards that advice." Doumeki explained. "I also know how to tourniquet a wound, perform the Heimlich maneuver, and set and brace a broken limb."

"Those skills will definitely come in handy if Watanuki's involved. That girl's always getting into trouble." Yuko cooed, eyeing the two teens. She pointed at the unconscious girl in Doumeki's arms. "Case and point. Now let me get her dried off and into bed, 'kay?"

"Hm." Doumeki nodded, climbing the stairs. Once up them, Doumeki handed Watanuki to Yuko and the witch disappeared into the second floor bathroom. The archer went to his room to dry off, the unexpected swim making him surprisingly tired and when Yuko finally emerged from the bathroom with a still unconscious Watanuki, they both went off to her room and Yuko tucked her into bed. Wari stopped by on the way to his room to check on the girl, smiling softly as the seer's chest rose and fell. He said goodnight to everyone and walked off to his room. Yuko said goodnight as well, and headed off toward her room with Mokona, but she stopped at the door, one hand on the frame. Doumeki was still standing by Watanuki's bed, watching the girl sleep.

"You're going to stay with her, I presume?" The witch asked.

"Yeah." The boy replied, taking a seat on the floor and leaning back on the seer's bed.

"Fine then. Have a good evening." Yuko smiled and shut the door behind her. Doumeki listened to Watanuki's breathing as she slept; his own desire to sleep vanishing after all the trouble she'd caused him. Instead, he just sat on the floor, there for her in case she needed something .Whether she liked it or not.

Watanuki opened her eyes heavily some time later as her vision cleared to reveal the dim room around her. Her whole body felt heavy and achy, her head hurt, her lungs burned and her chest felt like it was on fire. She turned her head to work out her kinks whe she saw something by her head, something dark and head-shaped. She blinked again, her vision blurry in her glasses-less state and squinted. It _was_ a head. Domeki's short haired head was tipped against the side of her bed and just seeing it made her frown. _Why is he here? _The girl tried to think of why that ass might be in her room. She was drawing a blank and kept thinking for a few moments. Then she blushed when she remembered why he might be in her room.

_"__DOUMEKI!" _

Watanuki blushed even deeper in embarrassment. _I yelled his name! And I did it so desperately too! Shit! _Watanuki groaned at herself and her stupidity and Doumeki must've been awake and thought that she'd groaned in pain (and she did hurt but she didn't groan because of that – at least not yet) because he stirred from his seat on the floor. He turned into a kneel, leaning on the bed to be at her side.

"You awake?" He asked softly. Watanuki tried to speak but her voice came out as a raspy sigh. Doumeki instantly got up and rummaged through her bag and took out a water bottle (probably because he knew that she'd have one in her bag). He then helped the girl prop her head up and pushed her hands away when she reached up to get herself a drink by herself the boy put his hand behind Watanuki's back as she sat up and held up the bottle to her lips.

"I can do it myself," She finally croaked.

"I know," Doumeki replied. "But I'm not going to let you." Watanuki sighed in frustration, but let him give her a drink. Doumeki supported her head with his free hand and watched the girl sip from the bottle and checked her over. Yuko had given her a bath and got her in her pajamas and she looked much beter that before, but she was still pale from her dip in the ocean and her breathing was still shallow from nearly drowning. From the way the girl was tenderly moving, the archer could tell she was hurting (he'd been through similar beatings of his upper body when training for archery club). When Watanuki had finished getting a drink, she cleared her throat and gave Doumeki a hooded look.

"Doumeki…" She started. "Did you…save me again?"

"Yes. I jumped in the ocean and dragged you back to shore." He replied honestly. "What were you doing?" Watanuki blushed again.

"I was trying to find that spirit I saw in the window earlier and walked back too far."

"You could've asked me to come with you."

"But I didn't want to…I don't like people doing things that I can do on my own." The seer admitted solidly. "I like being able to take care of myself. I always have taken care of myself."

"Then do that." Watanuki's head snapped up at that. _Doumeki just agreed with me! _She was confused now. "But let other people take care of you too, especially when you can't take care of yourself – even when you think you can." Doumeki's eyes were gazing at the girl steadily, the molten orbs boring into her. But no matter how serious he was…what he said made no sense.

"Huh?"

"Let others help you. Ask for help. Let me help." Doumeki's eyes were dead serious as they stared into Watanuki's eyes. "That's what I'm asking you to do for saving you today: start asking." Watanuki pouted, her blue eyes flashing in frustration. _I just told him that I don't like to do that! _"At least try," He amended when he saw Watanuki's pissed look.

"Fine." Watanuki grumped, slouching down into her bed, closing the discussion. Doumeki turned around and sat against her bed again, much to her displeasure. "You're not going to leave, are you?"

"Nope." He replied.

"Over protective bastard." She hissed. And then she tossed her extra blanket at his head so he wouldn't be chilly. Doumeki took it in stride and pulled the blanket off his head and spread it on his lap. _You don't want help, but you'll help anyone else? Idiot, _Doumeki mused. "I'm going swimming tomorrow before we leave!" Watanuki stated, subliminally demanding that Doumeki help her go swimming without really asking him too. "Now go to sleep!" Watanuki snapped, burrowing down into her blanket.

"I'm here if you need anything" Doumeki reminded the pouting girl.

"Leave me alone." The seer grumped, already dozing off, her body craving sleep. She was totally out when Domeki's reply finally came.

"Never." And then they were both asleep, quietly breathing in the sea air from the open window.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

She was standing on the school's roof, her fingers tangled in the chain link fence. The wind picked up, blowing her summer skirt off her legs. She was a pretty girl with pale skin, deep, dark eyes and short, dark ash hair. She felt the breeze on her skin and looked up at the blue and white sky, the clouds floating by leisurely. A white bird soared by, gliding through the sky freely. She smiled softly, admiring the freedom the bird had to go wherever it wanted to go whenever it wanted to go. She was envious of it as the creature disappeared into the blue sky.

What she didn't notice was that her shadow stretched out behind her, dark and sinister…and spread its wings out like dark arms.

Watanuki grumbled, holding her pencil above the page she was drawing on. She just couldn't get it right! They were drawing self portraits for art class and she was having the hardest time sketching herself. Her hair was skiwampus, she couldn't riddle out her proportions and her eyes weren't looking right either. Watanuki set her pencil down again, determined to get it perfect…and then sighed again and scrunched up her face in frustration because she was sure she was going to mess up her drawing again if she tried to fix it.

"How's it going, Watanuki?" Wari asked, leaning over to look at the girl's drawing board. They were both sitting outside with the rest of their class and Watanuki looked over at her crush and blushed at how cute he looked in the summer uniform. The boy's wore black pants and a white, short-sleeved shirt for summer and the girl's wore green skirts, black socks and a similar shirt. Only Watanuki had a wedgie in her skirt as she sat with both of her legs tucked under her like a princess, and Wari just looked so relaxed, his drawing board propped up on his knees.

"Well, it could be going better." The girl sighed, staring at her drawing again. "I'm beginning to think that I made a big mistake signing up for art class." She sighed gloomily against but then the girl's gushy mode turned on. "But if I could draw someone's picture I wish it could be yooouuurrrsss!~" She whispered quietly, to herself more than anyone. "Is yours done? Wah!"

"What do you think?" Wari asked, his smiled sparkling. Watanuki was looking at his drawing…but she couldn't quiet tell if the boy was going for an abstract concept or if he was just really bad at sketching. Her face dropped as she looked at the…the…thing…and her brain scrambled for an ambiguously neutral comment…so she didn't hurt his feelings.

"I can honestly say that I've never seen anything like it before!" Watanuki laughed nervously, sticking her hand behind her head and ruffling her pony tail.

"Why, thank you!" Wari didn't seem fazed at all. "Wow, I can't believe how hot it is today. I wonder why they have us working out here."

"Yeah, yeah, absolutely!" Watanuki agreed. And then she realized that it was really weird to be making self portraits outside. The girl crossed her arms in a know-it-all sort of fashion. "Yeah, what are we doing out here? We're drawing self-portraits not landscapes. There's no doubt that this school is a little, no, actually _a lot_ weird."

"Oh wow!" Another girl in their art class gasped. "It looks just like you!"

"Yeah! You're really good!" A second girl complimented. Watanuki looked over at the group near the school's wall. There were three of them and two of the girls, both with brown hair but one had hers in a low pony tail and the other's hair was let loose and wavy, were looking at the board of the girl in the middle. The middle girl was someone Watanuki had seen before but had never really paid any attention too. But now that she got a good look at her, the girl was pretty, but more on the plain side with flipped up ash brown hair pulled away from her face with teal clips and pale skin. Her brown eyes looked doleful and sad, but she was smiling softly as she looked at her picture. If Watanuki could've looked over the girl's shoulder, she would've seen a girl on the page, crammed into the left corner, curled up to her knees with her arms wrapped around her shins with sad eyes, all done in alternating harsh and soft pencil strokes.

"Hey! Since you're finished, do you think you can give me a hand with mine?" Pony tail girl asked.

"Oh yeah! Me too?" The wavy-haired girl jokingly asked. The pony tail girl winked.

"What do you think?" She asked. The ash-haired girl looked to both of them, hesitant for a moment, and then nodded. "You're a life saver! Thanks, Mie!"

"For real!" Wavy girl agreed. Mie put down her board and reach for one of the two boards being held out to her.

"Something wrong?" Wari asked, pulling Watanuki away from her observations. The boy looked to see what Watanuki was staring at and saw the girl. "That girl's in class 2. Everyone says she so nice and quiet and is polite to everyone!"

"Hm." Watanuki responded, still watching.

"What's up? Is there a problem?" Wari asked again.

"No! No, it's nothing!" Watanuki brushed off the comment and turned back to her eyes, trying to figure out whether or not she shaded her right eye too dark. It didn't look right that dark, but it she lightened it, then it wouldn't match the color of her left eye. _This is so frustrating! Why do people think art is fun?! _

All the while as Watanuki muddled through her portrait, Mie was still smiling.

Later that day, Mie was staring at the sky again, her fingers woven into the chain-link fence of the roof. This time, the clouds were bathed in brilliant golden light from the setting sun, but she didn't feel much like staring at it too long. Mie's gaze dropped down to the fence, but shot right back up when she heard a bird call. This time, there were five white birds flying by, but before they disappeared into the distance, the door to the roof opened and Mie's head snapped around to see who it was. It was her friends.

"Hey! Are you still up here?" Pony Tail called.

"Hurry up, slow poke!" Wavy added. Mie smiled at her best friends and let go of the fence.

"Sorry." She said softly, leaving with the girls.

Down in the art room, surrounded by other student's portraits, Mie's painting waited for her to come back. Hanging on the wall next to some of her classmate's drawings, the picture started to change. A pair of slowly unfurling wings appeared, just beginning to open up on the canvas.

"Man! The break was so long that I forgot how cute Wari looks in his uniform!~" Watanuki cooed while walking to Yuko's shop from school. "Today was such a great day! Except…" The girl stopped in her tracks, her smile fading to an annoyed pout. "…for one, teeny, tiny, little thing." The seer shot an irritated glare at her unwanted companion: Doumeki. "Just what the hell are you doing here?!"

"My club isn't meeting today." He stated simply.

"Why are they taking a break at the start of the semester!?" Watanuki howled, dismayed that Doumeki chose to walk home with her because he had nothing else to do. It was like he loved annoying her!

"What are you asking me for?" Doumeki replied, obviously not knowing the answer to that question either. Just then, the pipe fox wriggled out of Watanuki's breasts and out of her collar, staring the girl in the face. And then he proceeded to run in and out of the girl's clothes, tickling her all the time while he was at it.

"Gah! Ah! Don't go in there! Hehe! Stop that! Hahaha! That tickles!" Watanuki alternated between laughing and scolding as she danced around trying to stop the creature.

"I can't believe you're still carrying that pipe fox around," Doumeki said, watching the girl wriggle and shoving his free hand in his pocket. If Watanuki would've been paying attention, she might've noticed that he sounded just the slightest, teeny, tiniest annoyed, like he was miffed that Watanuki didn't believe that his pure aura could keep her safe without the extra protection of the pipe fox. But she wasn't paying attention and the slight miffed-ness went unnoticed.

"Not my choice!" She shot back, scrambling to catch the pipe fox, her hand going down her collar just a second too late and barley missing the creature as it shot up the bottom of her shirt.

"So then…someone's forcing you to carry it?" Doumeki asked, trying to get to the bottom of why she was carrying him around.

"Nooo." Watanuki sighed mournfully, finally shoving the pipe fox back into her breasts. "He keeps following me!" She whined.

"He just can't stand to be away from you, can he?" Doumeki replied, jealous of the little monster's closeness with his friend.

"Aaaaooowwwwllll," Wanuki moaned. "Just wait 'til Yuko finds out he snuck out of the house after me again." Watanuki's head dropped down into a position of "definitely in trouble." "I bet you just about anything that she'll bury me under a mountain of the worst chores she can think of!" The pair reached a crossroads and Watanuki turned to the right to go to Yuko's shop. When Doumeki didn't move on, she stopped and turned around, thinking he was going to say something important.

"About tomorrow's lunch…" He start.

"How did we get onto that all of a sudden?!" Watanuki snapped, glaring at the boy.

"I want Inari sushi." (1) The archer said, before turning left and walking to his house.

"Let me guess: because it looks like fox ears!" Watanuki mocked, holding up her hands to her head and flapping them like ears.

"Aw, man! What's wrong with me?!" Watanuki's hands dropped down and she pouted again. "I should've told that dumb jock to make his own lunch." She sighed dramatically, disappointed that she'd become so used to cooking for that jerkass. "I hope this doesn't go one for the rest of my life!" And then she went into normal mode as she thought through the situation. "I guess as long as I have to make my own lunch it's no big deal to make his lunch too…what the _HELL_ am I thinking!? That Doumeki is taking advantage of my good nature!" And while some would beg to differ on that last point, Watanuki was distracted by the pipe fox slithering out of her collar again and by the giggling of two girls. The three girls from earlier that day were walking by, the ash-haired girl lagging just a little being the other two as they laughed.

"I know those girls! They're in my art class at school." Watanuki watched them pass her by and nothing seemed out of the ordinary until Mie's back was visible. Watanuki gasped as she and the pipe fox saw two little white wings growing out of her back. "What's that? Is it a design on her shirt? Some kind of costume?" Watanuki rubbed her right eye, clearing it so she could have a better look. "But if it is, then why didn't I notice it before?" The three girls stopped in front of a vending machine filled with drinks and Pony Tail turned to talk to Mie.

"I hate to ask, but do you think you could lend me some change?" She asked, smiling at her friend. "I'll pay you back tomorrow."

"Yeah, me too, please!" Wavy asked just as cheerfully. Mie just glared at them.

"No way." She said it softly, but it was like someone had kicked a puppy right in front of them because both girl's smiles disappeared in an instant as they stared at their quiet friend walk right past them and down the street.

"Is it just me, or did she seem like a totally different person all of a sudden?" Pony Tail asked Wavy.

"You know how the quiet ones are: one day they just snap." Wavy replied.

"Cut it out! You're scaring me!" Pony Tail responded. Both girls walked away from the vending machine drinkless. Watanuki walked up to where they had been standing by the vending machine but stopped when she heard a slight sound under her foot. The girl looked down and picked up her foot. Underneath her, on the ground, was a single white feather. She bent down and picked it up, holding the delicate object in her fingers.

"A feather?" She questioned.

Back in the school's art room, Mie's painting was changing again, its wings unfurling just a little bit more.

Watanuki made it to Yuko's shop without incident, walking up slowly so as not to announce her presence. The shop's door didn't squeak when she opened it, and she peeked inside. There was no one in sight. Watanuki sighed in relief. And then the pipe fox decided to pop out of her collar again and started squeaking and kissing her forehead. Watanuki pulled him off her face and held up her finger to her mouth and shhh-ed him, still trying to be quiet so Yuko didn't find out that he was missing. The girl then pulled out the pipe fox, shoved him down in her skirt's back pocket and took a tip-toed step, turned around and shut the door with a soft squeak.

"Welcome back." A smooth, quiet voice said behind her. _Yuko! _Watanuki's spine shot straight in terror, and she dropped her bag in surprise as she was found out. The girl turned around with a scared expression on her face and found that Yuko's outfit might be scarier than Yuko herself. Today the witch was wearing a reddish-orange tank top with black ruffles around her boobs and the top had a chocker collar and a piece of fabric that extended down from the choker to the middle of her boobs that also had black ruffles on it. Her red shorts were very short and her belt was white with black ruffles and a huge pink rose tied it together with the end pieces of the belt dangling on Yuko's thigh. She was standing with on hand on her hip like she knew what Watanuki had done (and she seemed to always know what Watanuki did and didn't do, damn it!). "Watanuki," Yuko started talking with a very firm and no-nonsense voice that scared the shit out of the seer. "I want you to show me what's in your pocket right now!"

The girl's hands scrambled all over her body as she whimpered in fear. _I am in such deep shit! Thanks for nothing, pipe fox! Now we're both dead! _"Actually there's a really good explanation for this! I didn't take him with me; he just followed me on his own! I didn't even know that he was there until I got to school! I'm sorry!" Watanuki pulled out the pipe fox from her skirt and bowed as she held up the troublesome creature out to Yuko with both hands. There was a moment of silence where the fox and the woman just looked at each other before Yuko spoke again.

"I was talking about your other pocket." Yuko said firmly. The pipe fox slithered out of Watanuki's hands and ran across her shoulders, squeaking happily.

"Wait?! So you're not mad about the pipe fox!?" Watanuki asked, standing up while very confused. "So…you must mean…" Watanuki reached into her other pocket and pulled out the white feather she'd picked up off the ground and showed it to her boss.

"Where…did you get that?" The witch asked.

"I found it in the alleyway, while I was walking here after school." Watanuki answered. Yuko reached out her hand and held it up like she telling someone to stop. And then Watanuki's hands burst into a column of flames.

"AAAAAHHHHHH!" She screamed. The fire disappeared a second later, along with the feather but the girl was to mad and terrified to notice at first as she waved her hands around. "Are you _crazy?!_ You nearly burned my eyebrows off! You could at least wait until I'm finished talking before trying something like that!"

"Make sure you watch your back, Watanuki." Yuko said, her voice serious. Watanuki stopped freaking out.

"Huh?"

"Or you could end up as someone's dinner." Yuko's cranberry eyes stared into Watanuki's blue ones, the warning pressing into the girl's mind. She had no response and then Yuko suddenly flipped moods and wanted Watanuki to make a hugely complicated meal and then clean and do all the things that the girl had expected would be thrown on her, just like always. Maru and Moro kept singing their mistresses orders over and over again as the girl did her work and that ticked her off and then Mokona was being a pain in the ass and kept ordering the girl for snacks until she finally just whacked the fur ball with her spatula in a final fit of rage. It wasn't until eleven o'clock that she got home and did her homework and made lunch for the next day, grumbling all the time about "that ass, Doumeki" and "fox ears." The next day at lunch, Watanuki opened up the bento and waited for Doumeki's approval, much to her dismay.

"Wow, these triangles are really perfect." Doumeki said, taking one of the Inari out with his chopsticks. The girl couldn't help but be a little pleased at the compliment, but she hid it behind and annoyed expression.

"I know, because they're fox's ears!" Watanuki flapped her left hand like and ear on top of her head, her right hand not free because it was holding her own chopsticks. "Why did you pick this out of the way corner to have lunch when we could be eating outside! And why am I having lunch with you when I could be having lunch with Wari?! Man this reeks!" Watanuki started her crocodile tears as she complained about eating in the roof's stairwell and missed her crush's bright smile and lovely conversation. Instead she was stuck with an insensitive jerk who only cared about food!

"But he has late lunch." Doumeki replied, eating another Inari.

"I know that!" Watanuki growled, glaring at Doumeki as he ate.

"So?" The archer asked.

"So what?" The girl asked back.

"So finish what you were telling me before. About the girl you saw walking home yesterday that had wings growing out of her back. What happened after that." _Why did he jump back to that!? I was telling him that before school started! _

"Well, it gets weirder." The girl continued her story without a hitch, but then she stopped when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Watanuki listened at the footsteps rounded the corner and the girl that she was just telling Doumeki about appeared. _Speak of the devil and he shall appear. _She walked up to the pair sitting on the steps and stopped walking, looking down at them.

"You're in my way." She said softly, but the rude tone was clear enough. She looked pissed. Watanuki looked down at one of her bento boxes and found that it was in the middle of the stairs, in between her and Doumeki. She grabbed it quickly.

"Oh…sorry." She apologized to the girl. Mie walked past them without another word and opened the door to the roof. Watanuki watched her go and stared at the white wings on her back. They looked a little bigger today.

"Was that her?" Doumeki asked.

"Yeah…" Watanuki replied, still gazing at the closed door.

"I looked at her back but I didn't see any wings or anything."

"Okay…that must mean it's a spirit or something. Ah."

"Something wrong?"

"Well, I could be wrong about this…but when she passed by us just now, the wings on her back seemed larger than they were yesterday." Watanuki turned to look at the door again, the entryway looming behind her like the portal to something downright freaky.

Today, she was out on the roof, but she wasn't happy at all, her fingers clenching the fence in a white knuckled grip. Mie gazed up at the sky, a whole flock of birds passing across the clouds this time. She glowered at the creatures and gripped the fence tighter.

"Hey! Anybody home!" Watanuki called as she walked into the shop later that day. It was a stupid question because _somebody_ was _always_ home, even if it wasn't Yuko. Maru and Moro were waiting just past the genkan in their devil and angel outfits (the summer versions) and clapped the hand closest to their other twin together and threw their free hand out, leaning into each other and kicking up their outside legs in their usual pose.

"Welcome home!" They greeted, giggling happily.

"What's up?" Watanuki asked, kicking off her shoes. "So where is Yuko?"

"Sorry!" Maru replied, holding up her right hand straight up like she had the answer to a question in school. "The mistress has gone out for the day!"

"She's gone out with Mokona!" Moro answered next, mimicking her twin's stance.

"Oh. I see. And I was going to ask her to go to omatsuri." (2)

"The mistress says she sends her regrets!" Maru replied as both girls turned into each other and clapped their hands together.

"She really wanted to play with her Watanuki today!" Moro added.

"Hold on! I'm not her toy!" Watanuki howled.

"Yay!" The twins cheered, throwing their hands into the air.

"Watanuki got our joke!" Maru laughed.

"It was a tricky joke!" Moro laughed with her twin.

"Okay, then. Why don't you two come with me to the festival instead? Wari is going to be there. You both have your own kimonos, right? " Watanuki asked, smiling at the giggling twins. "When I was cleaning out the bureau drawers I found a pair of them and they looked like they were your size, so I thought they were yours." Both girls fell silent and looked at the girl with those endless old eyes they had sometimes, their hand still woven together with the other.

"We can't go." They said together, sadness creeping into their voices.

"What? Do you mean you have to have Yuko's permission?" Watanuki asked, disappointed that Yuko would limit the twins like that. They should be able to go out and have fun too!

"Maru and Moro can never set foot outside the shop." The girls turned towards Watanuki the blue haired twin holding the pink haired twin's right hand with her left hand. "Because unlike you, Maru and Moro don't have souls."

"Wait, you don't have souls?" Watanuki asked, confusion and understanding roiling around in her brain.

"The shop looks normal on the inside but it's different from the outside world." The twins said together ominously. "Those of us without souls cannot cross the rift between the shop and the outside world. Our bodies cannot endure it." Watanuki swallowed loudly, creeped out by the cute girls she saw every day.

"What does that mea-_EEEEEEEEE!"_ Watanuki shrieked and started dancing around, her silliness breaking the seriousness of the moment as her hands flew around her body trying to catch the pipe fox. She snagged the little creature as it flew under her skirt and got right in his face. "Will you stop doing that?!"

"Watanuki has an admirer!" Maru and Moro make a heart with their free arms and met their hands over their heads to shape it.

"A fuzzy one!" Maru sang,

"And a tickly one!" Moro sang back. Watanuki scolded the pipe fox again but then her hands were grabbed by the twins and she was whisked through the house to play games with them and made them snacks. They fell asleep halfway through the afternoon and Watanuki carried the girls to Yuko's huge bed and tucked them in. She then spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up and making everything nice for when Yuko came back. Not having to cook a huge dinner was a nice change and instead, Watanuki took her time changing into her kimono and do her hair nice for Wari.

Watanuki's yukata was dyed pale blue with navy and black starlings embroidered across the fabric along with tree branches. It was a kimono that her mother had picked out for the girl to wear when she was older…before she died, of course and Watanuki found that even years later, her mother had very excellent taste in fabric. Watanuki hummed as she slipped her arms into her kimono and tied her pale orange obi (something that she'd had to practice a lot to get it right) and straightened the fabric until it lay smooth. Then the girl made use of Yuko's huge bathroom to fix her hair. She'd already washed and dried her hair before getting dressed and brushed her wavy black locks into a shine before letting it fall to her shoulder blades and pinning back some of her bangs with a flower clip Yuko said she'd look cute in. Almost ready to go, Watanuki packed up her school stuff and placed her uniform in a bag to come back for later and slipped on her tabi socks and went to the genkan to leave. Maru and Moro were up and came to say goodbye as she slipped on her zori sandals.

"Have a fun time!" Moro called, waving as Watanuki opened the door.

"Have fun and be safe!" Maru added, waving with her twin. Watanuki smiled and waved back, before picking up her purse and shutting the shop's door behind her.

"I really don't understand it…how can they be alive without any souls? And what was that about the inside of the shop not being the same as the outside?" Watanuki wondered as she walked down the street to the festival. "I should ask Yuko about that when she gets back. I should also ask her about that 'being dinner' remark while I'm at it." Watanuki reached the festival in no time at all and walked up to the shrine, happy to see someone waiting for her by the torii gate (3). "Wari!" She sang, running up to the boy and waving happily. Wari was wearing deep purple kimono with white branches and flowers. _He's so cute! _Watanuki started crying with joy as Wari waved back at her.

"How are things going tonight, Watanuki?"

"Oh, yeah! Tonight's just great!" _As long as I'm spending it with you! _Watanuki bushed. "I hope I didn't keep you waiting long!"

"Not at all!" Wari replied cheerfully. I actually got here earlier than I had planned. You've got great timing! We were just having a little chat about you just before you walked up!" Watanuki's face dropped.

"Wha?!" She yelped. "When you say 'we'…you mean-"

"Oi." Doumeki stepped out from behind the pillar and held up one hand in greeting. He was dressed in his maroon yukata with a deep green sash.

"D-D-D-D-D-D-D-Doumeki!" Watanuki snarled. "What the hell do you think you're doing here?!"

"I asked him! I thought that you two were such good friends and that it would be a lot of fun for him to join us!" Wari sparkled as she smiled and Watanuki was slightly less peeved that Doumeki was butting into her time with Wari because the curly-haired boy was so cute.

"Wait a minute…you invited him?" Watanuki asked.

"Sure did! Is something wrong?" Wari asked.

"Oh no! You're fine! It was a really great idea!" Watanuki gave the boy a thumbs up, but inside she was dying from horror.

"Now that Watanuki's finally here, let's go." Doumeki said as he and Wari walked onto the shrine grounds.

"Hold on! Who died and made you the boss!?" Watanuki pointed an accusing finger at the archer.

"Don't be angry! This'll be fun!" Wari turned around and sparkled at the girl again. The seer instantly agreed with her crush. The trio walked onto the shrine and Wari and Watanuki were stunned by the lanterns hung above the food and game booths and all the lights and noise that festivals brought along with them.

"Isn't this great?" Wari asked. "Don't you love the festival at night?"

"Yeah! There's something magical about them!" The seer's smiled dropped off her face again and she looked around suspiciously for spirits. "Except… _they _show up in the meantime."

"What do you mean? What shows up?" Wari asked. _That's right! He doesn't really know!_

"I-uh-huh-I meant mosquitoes and stuff!" Watanuki blew off her serious comment with a nervous laugh.

"Oh yeah, it's awful. Here it's almost fall and we're still got all these bugs!"

_We're at a shrine, so I guess I should expect a few spirits, but so far…I haven't seen any. _Watanuki kept looking around as they weaved through the crowd of people. When she still didn't see any, Watanuki slyly gave Doumeki a sideways glance. _I guess it really could be because of him. I suppose…I'm glad…he's here…kind of…DAMN IT! _The girl struggled admitting that Doumeki helped out, even in her head where no one could hear her so she just stuck an annoyed look on her face and walked on.

"Hey, guys. Let's try this." Doumeki walked over to a booth and held up a paper net for catching goldfish and waved Watanuki over with it by tipping it back and forth through his fingers.

"Hey! What made you think you could decide what we were going to do?!" Watanuki pointed her finger at the jerkass and snarled with her fangs.

"I think it sounds fun!" Wari agreed with Doumeki.

"Oh yeah! Right!" Watanuki's mood flipped to please her crush. "Absolutely! It wouldn't be a festival without stopping at the goldfish booth! I've been looking forward to doing this all day long! Alright! Let me just warm up my fish catching arm!" Wari chuckled at the girl.

"Wari!" The boy's head turned to catch sight of a group of his friends, two girls and a boy, waving at him. He waved back and stood up.

"Sorry! I'll be back in a minute!" Wari apologized to Watanuki and then ran off to talk with his friends.

"Uh…but I-" Watanuki reached out a lingering had, but Wari was already immersed in conversation with his other friends. The girl's face dropped even lower, her lips coming out in a disappointed pout as her crush left her.

"Aren't you going to give it a try?" Doumeki asked, already holding a bowl with three goldfish in it.

"WHY AM I STUCK ON A ROMANTIC NIGHT WITH A BUNCH OF GOLDFISH AND _YOU_!?" Watanuki growled, holding up her hands like two avenging gauntlets of claws and teenage rage.

"You're the one who bumped into me." Watanuki stopped her rant when she heard a soft, but icily hard voice that she recognized. It was Mie, she was wearing a pale purple kimono with pink designs and a striped obi.

"Chill out, Mie!" The pony tail girl put her hand on Mie's shoulder. They were at the shooting booth and Mie was holding one of the play guns they used to knock over items on the shelves.

"It's her again!" Watanuki gasped.

"What's your problem? I apologized already didn't I?!" The guy that had apparently bumped into Mie said, both of them taking aggressive stances.

"Do it again!" Mie said, spitefully, but still softly.

"Just let it go!" Pony Tail was pulling at her arm now, trying to defuse the situation with distance.

"Come on." Wavy added, "Let's get out of here, Mie."

"Not yet." Mie took a step forward, "Just say it again!" She said, her voice getting a little louder as she addressed the man in front of her.

"And what if I don't? What are you going to do about it?" Mie stared at the man, her eyebrows furrowing as she got even angrier. A flow of fast flying birds passed before her eyes, glaring red as she anger boiled. She gripped the toy gun viciously and her other hand came up to join the first. Mie then pulled back her arms and with all her strength, swung the gun as hard as she could. The gun slammed into the guy's head, the pistol-whip knocking him down to the ground, crying out in pain as he held his head.

Oh my god! What have you done!?" Pony Tail screamed.

"You should've just apologized again." Mie said venomously. The incident was drawing quite a crowd and now the festival security guards were walking towards the commotion.

"We've got to get out of here now!" Pony Tail grabbed Mie's arm and the three of them ran down towards the shrine. As the girls ran away, Watanuki watched as the wings on Mie's back started growing again, getting larger and larger, the white feathers phasing into full fledged-wings.

"Just as I thought! Her wings keep getting bigger and bigger!" Watanuki gasped. Mie glared at Watanuki as she ran past, but she wasn't the only one that received a glare. "Doumeki! I've got to go. I've got to check something out!" Watanuki ran off, following after Mie and her white wings. Doumeki rolled his eyes at her stupidity and ran after her, his geta slapping on the cobblestones of the shrine. The pair of them ran past a second gate and into the temple proper. The courtyard was walled in, except for the gate and the shrine building itself was dark for the festivities.

"I thought I saw her come this way," Watanuki said softly, looking around the dark temple grounds. The festival lights didn't extend this far back into the shrine, and it was really dark. While she was looking the other way, Mie materialized from the shadows, walking out of the shrine building with her mysterious wings, and her friends nowhere in sight. She walked up to Watanuki and the girl took a surprised step back.

"I know you." Mie spoke softly still, but her voice was harsh and bitter. "You were the girl who was glaring at me. I know you were. Admit it. "

"I'm sorry, but you must be mistaken." Watanuki replied, knowing quite clearly that the only person she'd been glaring at was Doumeki.

"_No_. I could feel that you were glaring at me. Why don't you just apologize?"

"Listen, I'm really sorry if I gave you the wrong impression somehow…but I wasn't glaring at you. I promise!"

"Just shut up and apologize already!"

"She doesn't owe you and apology." Doumeki said, defending Watanuki. But the girl was too scared, watching the wings on Mei's back grow even bigger, her wing tips brushing the ground. And then three clicks sounded and Watanuki's eyes were drawn to the retractable xacto knife in her hand.

"Just do it! Hurry and apologize!" Mie screamed this time, sweat running down her forehead and cheeks. She gripped her knife in both hands, her arms shaking as she curled into herself like she was in pain. The wings on her back stared spreading themselves and weird little tentacles sprouted around her back and wiggled.

"What the-?!" Watanuki gasped.

"Apologize _now_!" Mie ran at the seer, bringing up her knife and slashing down at Watanuki. The raven stepped out of the way just in time, avoiding getting sliced down the middle, but the edge of the knife bit into her forearm, cutting deeply and blood started gushing out of the wound. Watanuki grabbed her arm, trying to stem the blood flow as she winced in pain. Doumeki stepped up behind Mie and grabbed her knife with his hand, covering the blade so she couldn't hurt Watanuki again. The knife cut open his palm and fingers, blood squelching out of his grip and dripping onto the ground. He stood between Watanuki and Mie, yanking up her hands, the knife sliding in even deeper, but he didn't wince and didn't shout in pain or anything, just kept his serious face on as he protected his friend.

"You're the one that should apologize." Doumeki said, watching her warped back tremble in anger. She glared at him, her brown eyes narrowing in rage, and then suddenly, she collapsed, her angry expression vanishing as she lost consciousness. The knife fell to the ground, covered in Doumeki's and Watanuki's blood and Watanuki watched as the wings started flapping, pulling Mie into the air against the girl's control. She was out and Watanuki could only guess that Doumeki was seeing a girl dangle in mid-air. Watanuki clapped her hands over her ears as an ear-splitting shriek came from Mie, but she wasn't the one doing the screaming. The seer watched in horror as the wings on Mie's back started wiggling, the tentacles tensing and relaxing until they detached themselves, a white blob coming out of Mie's skin like some sort of parasite. Mie fell to her hands and knees as the wings lifted themselves into the air, finally free of their host.

"Are you okay?" Watanuki asked, forgetting the wings and running to see if Mie was alright. And then the wings shrieked again, flapping just about the temple and them made a dive for Watanuki. Mie wasn't responding and Watanuki shoved her into Doumeki's arms, knowing that she'd be safe there as she got up and ran herself.

The wings circled around Doumeki, avoiding his pure aura and made a beeline for Watanuki's delicious scent. The girl yelped and ran as fast as she could in her kimono, heading towards the wall. _Why is it always me?! Why is it always me?! Why is it always ME?! _She chanted her mantra in her head while she wailed in real life. The wings were getting closer, the tentacles wriggling and wanting to catch their next prize. Just before they were about to grab Watanuki, the girl dive bombed herself, rolling into a somersault and ducking the tentacles before they could snag her. She stopped rolling on the ground as the wings circled around again and came to flap right in front of her. the girl looked up and yelped, leaping to her feet and backing up against the courtyard's wall. She crept to the right, keeping her back to the wall and the wings in her line of sight until she came to a corner, and then the wings really had her cornered in the most literal sense as they flapped to catch up to the panicking girl. The wing-creature shrieked again, chittering at its prey and then swooped in for the kill. Watanuki screamed and covered her face with her hands.

The pipe fox shot out of her kimono sleeve, his period of being good and not tickling Watanuki over as it rushed in to help his new affection. The pipe fox shot into the air and spun around and around in a knot until he was a shining ball of white, deflecting the wings back with a burst of energy before spinning like a pinwheel and unfurling himself as a beautiful fox. The pipe fox was no longer little and Watanuki gasped in awe at its beautiful, golden fur and the collar of pale fur around his collar and on his _ tails, and the fox had strange red markings on his face. The fox hovered protectively in front of Watanuki and growling menacingly, snarling at the wings as they shrieked back. The fox opened his jaws and a fire shot out of it like lasers off a space ship and hit the wings dead center, setting them alight. The pipe fox leapt and tackled the wings, pinning them on the ground with a crash that created a good sized crater in the earth and tore them to shreds as they burned up with fox fire and disappeared. The fire on the ground burst even brighter as the wings turned to ask and Watanuki walked a little closer, just to make sure that they were gone for good.

I warned you, didn't I? I told you to watch your back." Yuko's voice floated down behind Watanuki and the girl pivoted to see the witch standing in the courtyard with them, dressed in a deep blue kimono, yellow and red obi with black gloves clasping a black umbrella. Her pinned up hair blew in the wind created by the fox's fire a she watched the wings burn up.

"Yuko!?" Watanuki yelped.

"That creature…it was planning to consume you next." Yuko head turned to where Doumeki was standing with Mie. "Just as it consumed her." Doumeki was still holding Mie, but her eyes were closed this time and she was completely limp. Embers of the fire leapt into the air, like huge fireflies that surrounded the group of people in the courtyard. The pip fox whined and jumped over to Yuko, curling itself around her form and tipped his head up. Yuko smiled and scratched the creature's jaw in appreciation for his hard work.

"That's what you meant about being dinner." Watanuki realized. "I was going to be its next victim." Watanuki turned to look back at the fire. "What was it? What kind of creature?"

"A fallen angel."

"Huh?" Watanuki looked back at Yuko again.

"A parasite that feeds on people. It slowly feeds on the mind's ability to practice self control. In return, the victim is freed from all self-restraint.

"So did that monster pick her randomly? Was this a case of bad luck?" Watanuki asked, watching as the fox's fire finally disappeared, leaving not a trace of the wings or the crater that the pipe fox had made in the ground.

"It's more that than. Think about all those stories you hear on the news. A criminal's friends and co-workers all say the same thing when interviewed by the press. The script rarely varies. 'He seemed like such a normal, quiet person.' 'She never seemed like the kind of person to do this kind of thing.' The reality is that this type of creature won't just feed on anyone. It will only feed on someone who secretly wants to lose control, to break free of their inhibitions. This shy, quiet little girl was exactly what it was looking for."

Mei sat up and opened her eyes, but her expression was blank, like Doumeki's face but with less personality.

"She's finally awake!" Watanuki rushed over to Mie to check on her. "Hey, are you okay?" Watanuki placed a hand on her should and shook her gently, but she didn't respond.

"The boundaries of her consciousness have been destroyed." Yuko explained. "And her soul has become unstable. Her mind has retreated into itself. Who knows how long she'll be like this."

"No way." Watanuki breathed. "There's got to be something we can do to bring her back!" Yuko didn't reply. "Yuko! Please!"

"Humans are a strange mixture of strength and weakness. And it may be in this girl's case, that what is lost can be restored…but it's going to take a very long time. " Yuko really did look like a witch then, still holding onto her umbrella, the pipe fox at her back and the glowing ashes of the fire drifting into the air around them. The fox whined and looked up at the moon and Yuko, Watanuki and Doumeki all did the same, gazing up at the whole, white orb in the sky.

"Time to go now." Yuko said a few minutes later, signaling that they needed to get out of here. Watanuki sighed and reached up to rub her eye when she remember that her arm was bleeding. And then she remember that Doumeki's hand was in much worse shape than she was.

"Doumeki!" Watanuki turned to look at the boy and her eyes flitted to his hand. "Your hand!" The seer reached out and grabbed the archer's fingers and gently pryed them apart. The pipe fox wandered over and took the girl out of Doumeki's arms and Yuko helped place Mie on the creatures back and left with them, presumably to get her to someone who would take care of her. Watanuki examined Doumeki's hand and noted that the largest cut was across his palm with the smaller ones on his knuckles closer to his finger tips with a few in between both wounds. She reached into her purse and yanked out and handkerchief, putting one end into her mouth and pulling with her free hand to rip the cloth into strips (her other hand still holding Doumeki's bleeding one). Shen then started wrapping his hand up, taking care not to open the cuts further and trying to gauge pain by Doumeki's facial expression (which showed nothing out of the ordinary) and his body's reactions, like flinching (which there were none.) _How does he do that? He's cut up this badly – he might need stitches – and yet he's not even wincing! _Once Doumeki's hand was all bandaged up, Watanuki checked her work and then sighed in relief when everything was secured. She was then surprised when Doumeki grabbed her arm and tore up his own handkerchief to bandage her up, being careful to slow down or stop completely when she winced or whimpered as he pinched her deep cut together. Doumeki's stone-faced act made the girl feel like a wuss, but she kept it together as much as she could.

"Are you okay now?" Doumeki asked when he was finished.

"Yeah and how are you? You're cuts are much deeper than mine." Watanuki pointed out.

"Yes, but yours is near vital arteries. You're lucky she didn't cut one of them open." Doumeki said, taking Watanuki's hand in his undamaged one and pulling her back to the festival. When they got back into the lights, the whole place was in an uproar over the ambulance just outside the gates, the paramedics carting Mie away with Yuko and the pipe fox nowhere in sight. Doumeki disappeared for a second and reappeared back with the seven goldfish he'd won and Watanuki was about to reprimand him about being worried about fish after all that just happened to them when one of the spectators noticed that Watanuki and Doumeki were all cut up as well. A shout went up and the pair was shoved through the crowd and into the ambulance as well before Wari had a chance to climb in and just yelled concerns at them from the crowd until they were hustled inside the truck and whisked away.

The ride was quick one with how fast the driver was going, but Doumeki still had time to take one of the goldfish out of his collection and poured some of the bag's water into a bowl that came with the fish as he was being checked over by a paramedic. Watanuki watched him under the armpit of the paramedic checking her over and once they had deemed that the two teens were fine until they got to the hospital, they backed away and Doumeki held out the bowl with the single fish in it to Watanuki with both hands.

"What's this for?" Watanuki asked, eyeing the little creature swimming around the bowl.

"I want you to have this." Doumeki said. "I won it."

"I can see that! You're got like a million goldfish now!" Watanuki grumbled back.

"We've got a tank at home. Take this one."

"And why would I do that?" Watanuki was miffed that she was getting what she considered a consolation prize, since she didn't win any goldfish herself.

"Because its payment for helping you today. In exchange for saving you, I want you to have this." He held up the bowl again.

"But that's helping me and giving me something! It's double for me and none for you except a cut that needs to be stitched up!" Watanuki argued.

"I'm asking you to take this goldfish for helping you because you won't take it under any other circumstance." Doumeki said evenly, his eyes dead serious. Watanuki was stunned at his words, the fact that he wanted to give her something was surprising considering how much he took from her everyday: her time, her patience, her cooking…and now he was giving her something while asking her to do something as well…to accept a gift that she normally wouldn't.

"You're a cheeky bastard." Watanuki replied, blushing just a bit as she gave in and took the goldfish bowl in her hands. Her arm gave a twinge of pain as the extra weight of the bowl strained it, but she kept it steady and pulled her goldfish into her chest. She looked down at that small thing, its frilly fins swishing about. It was a radiant gold-orange color, but it had a patch of scales that were bluish-black sitting on its left side near the dorsal fin. "This one's pretty."

"She's a girl." Doumeki said.

"How can you tell?" Watanuki asked, curious to see how he knew.

"She's got a rounder body; it's fuller than a male's. See?" He held up his bag and pointed to another darker bronze-colored fish swimming around in the water. "He's more streamlined. The vendor told me that's the easiest way to tell gender."

"I see." Watanuki nodded her head, and then she realized what she was doing. "Why am I taking goldfish identifying lessons from you!?"

"Because you asked." The archer replied, setting his bag back down in his lap. Watanuki mumbled some insults and sulked in her seat, still holding onto her new goldfish tightly. "She kind of reminds me of you." Watanuki's ears perked up at that.

"The goldfish? How the hell did a _goldfish_ remind you of me!?" She asked, glaring at Doumeki again.

"Yeah. That spot on her body – the black part – it reminded me of you because a lot of the time you're the gloomy cloud on a sunny day." Watanuki's face tweaked into a snarl at that comment and she was about to harshly inform Doumeki that he was no picnic either and started _all_ of her bad moods but he kept talking. "But when clouds pass over the sun, they provide shade and relief from the heat."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Watanuki questioned, still peeved about the gloomy cloud comment.

"Figure it out yourself." Doumeki replied. And then they pulled up to the hospital so Watanuki didn't have time for a snarky comeback.

Mie was rolled away into and observation unit and Doumeki and Watanuki were taken into separate rooms and had to wait for a doctor to come in and stitch them up. Watanuki got a nice, gentleman doctor who numbed her arm so all she could feel was the pulled of her skin and not the pain, and sewed her arm up, not even questioning the raven when she wouldn't let go of her goldfish.

"Were you the one who patched up that young man in the other room?" The doctor asked the girl.

"Yes." She replied respectfully and the needle went into her arm against and pulled her skin together. And then her eyes wandered up her arm to her sleeve and she realized that she'd dripped blood onher sleeve and down the left side of her kimono. _Shit, I got blood on my yukata! _The girl groaned internally at the ruined fabric of the kimono and wondered if several washings would get the stains out or not.

"That was some fine work. You kept him from losing more blood and having to need more stitches if he had torn the cuts while moving. Most excellent work." The doctor smiled at her.

"Thank you." Watanuki smiled back and let him do his work.

"And he did a fine job on your arm as well. Very nice." Watanuki nodded in reply. After she was al patched up, Watanuki was left in the lobby to wait for Doumeki. He wasn't too much longer and walked out with a new set of bandages around his hand.

"Ready to go?" He asked. It was well after midnight and Watanuki yawned before answering.

"Yes, I'm tired." The pair walked home in relative silence, both worn out from their adventures today and Watanuki just made a quick pit stop to Yuko's to grab her clothes and her school bag. And then they were walking to Doumeki's temple where he went inside and then Watanuki was on her own to get to her apartment.

Watanuki got home that night and slumped into her desk chair after kicking off her sandals. She set the goldfish Doumeki had won for her and the bowl that came with the fish down on her desk and leaned over, resting her head on her arms. She was worried for Mie, the quiet girl who would probably end up in a hospital rehabilitation center until she could come out of her waking coma, but she was also thinking about Doumeki as well. He'd sliced his hand for her tonight when he stopped Mie from trying to cut her again. It was reckless and stupid, but he'd still done it, protecting her. Watanuki's hand came up and her index finger dragged down the side of her goldfish's bowl. _I'll have to buy some food in the morning and a bigger bowl…and some rocks for the bottom and maybe a few fake plants…make it more home-like…for a fish that is. _

"What should I name you?" Watanuki asked out loud, watching her golden fish swim around. "Yuko said names were important and had power, so it needs to be a good one." Every once in a while, her blue and black scales came into view, clashing with the warm yellow-gold of the rest of her body, like a brilliant summer sun with a cloud passing over the light, just like Doumeki said. "Ka. I'll name you Ka…for summer." Watanuki's head fell down into her arms as her hand flopped on the desk, the girl falling asleep almost instantly. What she hadn't really realized was that "ka" was also part of Doumeki's name Shizuka…a tiny tribute to the person who won her the gift that would miff her later.

And as a bonus the next day, Yuko did a magic trick in the laundry that had the blood out of her kimono in a jiffy and Watanuki was so happy that she didn't mind that one day had been added to her debt.

Back in the art room…Mei's picture had lost its wings…and all that remained was the sad little girl, backed into the corner, surrounded by her classmates, including one very interesting Wari and a slightly disproportional Watanuki.

To be continued...

Note 1: Inari sushi is a kind of sushi or rice ball, stuffed with sushi rice in seasoned Aburaage tofu pouches that are tanish-red that mimick fox ears are are very triangle-shaped. That's why Watanuki said that the looked like fox ears.

Note 2: Omatsuri is a fall festival celebrated in Japan. "Matsuri" is the Japanese word for festival or holiday, and festivals are usually sponsored by a local shrine or temple but can be sponsored by secular circles. There are no specific days for all of the festivals in Japan but festival dasy do tend to cluster around traditional holidays like Setsubun or Obon. The omatsuri in this chapter is probably the festival that most shrines hold in late summer or early autumn that is connected to the rice harvest. In matsuri, there are usually game stalls and food stalls that sell food such as takoyaki (octopus balls) and have games like goldfish scooping, along with Karaoke contests, and sumo matches.

Note 3: Torii gates are usually found at the enterances to Shinto shrines and temples, symbolizing the transition from the profance world to the sacred temple grounds. They can also be found at the entryway to Buddist temples.

A/N: There you go! See you all next time! (And hopefully that's not too long away this time!) :3


	9. The Twin and The Other Twin

A/N: ZareEraz here! Hooray! It didn't take me almost two months to get this chapter up this time! Hope you enjoy it!

Surprise! Contest time! Watch episode 15 of xxxHolic and pay attention to the movie theater's walls! If you can tell me who's on the posters I'll do a request fic! Make sure to post your answer in the reviews and don't forget to comment on the chapter if you like! Happy Hunting! :3

Chapter Eight: The Twin and The Other Twin

"Wow! I can't believe how giant these new shopping malls are!" Watanuki gasped, walking down the central pathway with Yuko as they were out shopping. The new mall had to be at least four stories with walk ways crossing up all off the floors like a weave above her head, and as she marveled Yuko started walking faster, looking fabulous in her sleeveless purple top and hip-hugging white pants. "Wait up, Yuko! Where are you going?" Watanuki reached out her hand to grab the witch's shoulder, but never quite got to her.

"There's a gourmet market downstairs, so that's our first stop." She said, placing a hand on her hip.

"That's a great idea! I love food!" Mokona poked its head out of Watanuki's yellow shopping bag. Watanuki ran to catch up to Yuko, her heels seeming to have taken on supernatural properties in speed as she plowed ahead. She stepped onto a down escalator and the seer leapt on after the woman.

"Are you crazy!?" Watanuki yelped, flinging her arms all over the place as she argued. "People don't come to the mall for food! They come to buy clothes and jewelry and stuff!"

"My dear girl, you have so much to learn." Yuko leveled her eyes at her slave, folding her arms gracefully.

"Yeah! Loooser!~" Mokona seconded.

"Get ready, Watanuki. We're about to enter an endless wonderland of culinary delights. They reached the lower floor by this point and Watanuki had stepped into a wonderland, just like Yuko had told her she would. There were cases of food, displayed under bright lights, low lights, out in the open…whatever presentation the chefs decided was the best for each dish. And it wasn't only Japanese food, but food from all over the world. It was a paradise of culinary achievement and fine cooking-ship. Yuko dashed over to one case after another, looking in all the windows at what there was to be had. "Fantastic! Potatoes au gratin! Sheets of Arashiyama tofu! And look at that French-style Gran Maison roast beef!" Watanuki looked at the fantastic food and couldn't help but be impressed…until she saw the price and her admiration vanished like her wallet would.

"Look at the price!" Watanuki yelped, her hands waving frantically in front of the case. "I can make au gratin potatoes, tofu, roast beef and anything else they've got. I can make it for you at the shop." The girl defended her expertise in the kitchen, trying to save her wallet and her pride as a chef. But she did hate the fact that she was trying to get Yuko to get her to cook…it was completely unfair of her to do this to herself.

"Don't be silly," Yuko turned towards the girl, the long ends of her hair that hadn't been pulled into her bun swished with her. "That has nothing to do with it."

"Yeah!" Mokona piped up.

"It's not that I'm saying there's anything wrong with your cooking," Yuko pivoted around to gaze out at the expanse of delicious food she had yet to look at. "But every now and then I'd like something different."

"Seriously!? But if you're happy with what I make, then why would you?!" Yuko walked over to a wine tester table that had a huge rack of bottles sitting behind it and a waiter in a black vest poured her a glass of the red alcohol. Yuko look a long, sensuous sip and then started talking again.

"Don't you think you're overacting just a little bit?" Yuko said, turning back to the counter.

"I slave away every day over a hot stove for you! And this is the thanks I get?!" Watanuki threw her hands out. "This is all just a big joke to you, isn't it?!"

"I see." Yuko stated smoothly. "So you're saying you wouldn't like a night off? I'd thought that you'd enjoy a meal you didn't have to prepare yourself. I was going to share this with you, you know." Watanuki's angry face dropped and a smile replaced it.

"You were going to share with me? That's so nice of you!" Watanuki was genuinely surprised because Yuko was very territorial about her food, and she rarely missed a chance to make Watanuki's day demanding and irritating with cooking and cleaning so it was nice, now that she knew she didn't have to cook for both of them tonight.

"I understand, Watanuki." Yuko said, smiling like a Cheshire cat. "You're jealous, aren't you?" The witch poked her finger into the girl's nose.

"Watanuki's jealous!~" Mokona teased from inside the shopping bag.

"The way a wife is jealous of a mistress' charms." Yuko looked from plate to glorious, sparkling plate of food and smiled lustfully. "And this is like the mistress' boudoir."

"Knock it off! It's not like that!" Watanuki protested.

"Calm down. You shouldn't be jealous. I give you plenty of things."

"You've got to be kidding me, Yuko. I've never gotten anything from you. Not even a straight answer." Watanuki said, her face dead pan.

"I give you work and chores I need done," The witch held up her fingers as she counted. "I give you all my laundry to clean and I give you all the ingredients to cook my meals…oh, I know! I'll give you some ingredients from this gourmet market and you can cook us a nice Chinese meal!~" Yuko finished, her smile getting wider.

"Oh, come on! Give me a break!" Watanuki balled up her fists at her side and pouted, squeezing her eyes shut so she didn't have to look at Yuko's face.

"Well, maybe later. I've given you enough for now." Yuko said ruefully.

"That's not what I call 'giving!'" Watanuki snarled, getting her face right up in Yuko's.

"Ah, but it is." Yuko shifted into mysterious teaching mode, sliding her pointer finger down her jaw line. "You see, words have a special power...they are actually living entities."

"They're living entities?" Watanuki, asked, confused once again as a sweat drop rolled down her cheek.

"Ooo! Let's get that one!" An excited female voice called out.

"But flounder is so expensive…" A quiet male voice answered, trailing off. "What if I make a mistake cooking it?" Watanuki and Yuko both turned to look at the pair standing in front of a meat display case. The girl was wearing a bright yellow sweater-jacket, a cream blouse paired with a green skirt, and the boy with her was wearing a red jacket with tan pants. They looked very similar, both with brown hair (only the girl's was longer and curled into ringlets near the ends and the boy's was just wavy all around and fell to his shoulders).

"But doesn't it look awesome!?" The girl held up something so she could read it. "It says that it was flown in from England's Strait of Dover! Isn't that amazing? I'll take that one!" The girl turned toward the clerk at the counter and pointed to a flounder in the case.

"Wow. They look so much alike!" Watanuki remarked. "Are they twins?" The clerk handed the boy a bag with the flounder in it and they both walked away with their shopping bags.

"Thank you," The soft-spoken boy told the clerk.

"Do we need to pick up anything else?" The girl asked.

"We should buy some meat, just in case I mess this up." The boy replied. "Something less expensive."

"Geez, bro! You are such a worry wart!" So they are siblings. "Why don't you just chill out already?"

"But I can't cook really well…you know that." The brother answered.

"Better than I can!"

"Wow, are they twins? They almost look exactly alike, aside from the boy's hair. But if they were the same gender, I think they'd be identical!" Watanuki said, looking up at Yuko. She didn't say a word, just stood there with her arms crossed, watching the siblings walk away. Watanuki looked after them as well, wondering what Yuko could be thinking. "Don't tell me that you've changed your mind and that you want fish instead of Chinese..." Watanuki started. Yuko changing her mind was never a good thing; usually what came out of it was more complicated than the original thought. "Would you just pick one? And stop drooling over those guys' groceries." In a flurry of movement, Yuko had reached into the shopping bag, pulling out Mokona with one hand and had slammed it on top of Watanuki's head, the frown on her face very evident.

"I wasn't drooling, thank you very much." Yuko hissed back, leaning down to Watanuki's height and placing both hands on her hips. Mokona just sat on Watanuki's head, happy for the change of view.

"Oh yeah? They why were you staring at them like that?" Watanuki shot back.

"I was just thinking that they were going to be eating meat tonight…instead of flounder." Yuko's cranberry eyes slid over to where the siblings were disappearing around a row of cases and out of sight.

"Hm?" Watanuki looked from the siblings and then back to Yuko, still confused. But she didn't have long to be confused because then Yuko was dragging her all around the floor looking for things to eat that night and Watanuki ended up carrying it all back to the shop and then cooking it.

"I wonder what I should make Yuko for dinner tonight." Watanuki mused, walking out of the school's grounds the next day, placing her fingertip on her chin as she thought. "Maybe she would like my chilled capellini with tomatoes? Wait…I think she's going out for cocktails so maybe I should just clean instead." The girl's train of thought skidded to a halt and derailed, as did her walking. "What is the matter with me?! It's like I'm actually starting to enjoy all the works she'd loaded me up with! DAMN IT!" The girl scratched her head with a fury as she snarled and then she stopped suddenly, staring at the boy from yesterday who'd just wandered out of a side road. Today he was wearing a white shirt with black buttons and gray pants and shoes, and his head was hung down, like he was looking for something. He wandered back into the street he'd walked out of, his head still down. "He's one of the twins…the siblings from the mall."

Watanuki started walking towards where the boy had disappeared, turning right into the side street. The boy was kneeling on the ground, his fingers ghosting across the pavement.

"Is there something wrong?" The boy's head shot up.

"I lost a contact. I think it fell out." The boy turned and looked at Watanuki and she finally got an up-close view of his face: sad brown eyes, and cute smile and that wavy hair that framed his cheeks.

"It's around here somewhere?" Watanuki asked, tiptoeing so she didn't accidently step on the contact.

"Mmhm. I think so."

"Why don't I help you look for it?" Watanuki offered with a smile. "I'm sure we can find it! Two sets of eyes are better than one."

"That's kind of you." The boy said as Watanuki knelt down and started running her hands over the concrete.

"Don't worry about it! I could use the good karma!" Watanuki chuckled ironically. But even with good karma, spirits are still going to come after me, damn it all.

"I really appreciate your help." The boy stood up, his gaze still sweeping the ground. "Although…I'm pretty sure_ we won't find it."_ Watanuki's eyes widened and her head snapped up. She could hear a ringing sort of sound, similar to the sound your ear hears when your ear drum's been whacked or you start hearing muscles near your ears. It reminded Watanuki of when someone runs their fingers around the rim of a glass and the sound just echoes and bounces around in the air. Watanuki stared at the boy, mesmerized because now, there were invisible ripples radiating out from him, and she was pretty sure that only she could see them…which meant a spirit was involved.

They looked for so long that when Watanuki finally got to Yuko's shop that evening, it was late enough that she had to prepare something simple for dinner and Yuko was not happy about it, leaning into the kitchen with her long yellow dress (the one with the open neck line and long sleeves and a color that clearly didn't reflect Yuko's current mood) and loomed over the girl as she cooked. It was uncomfortable to say the least to have a witch brooding over your shoulder, and even more so that when you sat down across the table from her that she just stares at you with disdain. Watanuki hid behind her tray as Yuko glared at her.

"So you spent so much time looking for his contact lens that you didn't have time to make capellini for dinner?" Yuko miffed, picking up a chopstick full of noodles and munching on them moodily. She held the noodles over a small bowl, that way she didn't drip any on her dress as she sucked them into her mouth. "Instead…we get plain old soba noodles."

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I lost track of time." Watanuki apologized. Mokona just sat on the table, quiet for once because there were no extra plates to pick food off of and Maru and Moro were just sitting on the other side of the table like huge dolls, watching their mistress eat silently.

"Well, nothing wrong with a bowl of old fashioned noodles and these are quite tasty actually." Yuko's bad mood evaporated just as quickly as it had come, letting everyone finally relax.

"Yay! Noodles!" The twins cheered. "Tasty!"

"You know…we looked all over and yet, we never did find it. It's odd." Watanuki stated, thinking that telling Yuko might offer an explanation. The witch sipped her sake and then rested her chin on the back of her hand, thinking.

"I'm not surprised." Yuko replied.

"I guess she was right, the odds were against us. It was getting dark and the contact was so small." Watanuki reasoned, shrugging.

"That isn't the reason." Yuko countered.

"Hm?" Watanuki looked up from the tray on her lap.

"You didn't 'happen' not to find it…you just couldn't find it."

"What do you mean?" Watanuki asked, watching Yuko put her cup down.

"Before you even began looking…you were being foiled in your search." And then, one of those weird moments happened, where insubstantial, scentless smoke appeared to flow from Yuko's sake cup (it didn't always come from her cup, but it did this time) and enveloped the room. "Living beings can be bound by so many things…the so called 'natural laws', the set passage of time, the vessel you think of as your body, the spirit you think of as your mind. These are the chains that bind all living things." Watanuki liked into her tea cup, pondering Yuko's words.

"Chains?" She asked quietly.

"Yes. These are the bonds from which you cannot break free. But, did you know? _There is one chain that humans can wield all by themselves."_

"Chains?" Doumeki asked.

"Mmm hmm." Watanuki paused for a second, still mulling around in her thoughts when she noticed who was sitting by her. "Hey! How did I end up here having a hamburger with you, jerkass!?" They were in a burger joint together, both sitting at a counter looking out into the street, eating fast food after school and Watanuki hardly even remember getting there in the first place. The girl leapt to her feet and waved her fists in the air. "And how did I end up PAYING FOR IT!?" Doumeki lifted up his burger and took a bite.

"I guess you got distracted while you were going on about chains, and restraints and being bound and stuff like that. Sounds like BDSM. Do you like that stuff?"

"Would you just shut up?!" Watanuki snapped, blushing wildly. _Does he like that stuff? _The thought flew through the girl's mind and left as quick as it had come. The girl then froze, noticing all the stares directed at her and quailed, plopping down back into her seat. "You make me sound like some kind of weirdo with weird hobbies!" She hissed, still blushing.

"I don't know about weird hobbies but you're definitely a weirdo."

"Leave me alone!" The seer growled.

"Come on, tell me the rest of it." Doumeki prompted the girl, wanting to hear the rest of what Yuko said as he reached across and swiped some of Watanuki's fries.

"Like you care!" She snapped back, swiping the rest of her fries before he could swipe them and then moodily munched on a bit of burger.

"Come on. You know you want to. And it's better than talking to yourself, right?" Doumeki pointed out. He had valid reasons, but mostly he just wanted to see Watanuki lost in thought again. It was cute when her face was relaxed (if slightly confused) and calm for once. The girl didn't speak right away, still thinking so Doumeki had to prompt her again.

"So…this twin with the contact lens, is he human?" Doumeki asked, trying to get the ball rolling.

"Hmm?" Watanuki's head popped up when she stopped staring at her burger.

"Couldn't it be possible that those twins are spirits like Zashiki-warishi?"

"I don't think so. I'm pretty sure Yuko would've said something if they were." Watanuki went back to staring at her burger and Doumeki was getting tired of this halting conversation.

"Well, think about it. You do tend to attract them." Doumeki went on. "You know…spirits and things like that. And although Zashiki-warishi wasn't that much of a problem, who knows what could happen with those too."

"Okay, maybe you have a point but it's none of your business." Watanuki looked away from Doumeki, irritated that he was butting in, but found it kind of nice to talk to someone about it besides Yuko and her confusing trains of thought.

"Is too." Doumeki argued, his voice never straying from anything but mild, monotone interest.

"Look, just because you saved me a couple of times doesn't mean anything." Watanuki said, trying to draw the line somewhere with their odd relationship.

"It's not that. It's just. If anything were to happen to you…" Doumeki started. Watanuki looked at him, half skeptical and half hoping that he'd actually say something nice for once. "…where would I get my lunch?"

"I'm NOT your personal MEAL TICKET!" She smacked him on the head, her hopes dashed and her anger kindled.

"Are you finished with this, miss?" A girl asked, reaching down to grab Watanuki's empty tray (her burger was still in her hand). Watanuki looked up and saw the girl twin with the long, curly hair dressed in the green uniform and visor of the restaurant.

"Wait, it's you!" Watanuki gasped. "Sorry I wasn't more help in finding your brother's contact."

"So, you're the girl who stopped to help him! I'm his younger sister!"

"Well, please tell your older brother that I apologize." Watanuki smiled. She tilted her head toward Doumeki. "They look so much alike, except for the hair."

"Really?" Doumeki said, looking up at the girl twin.

"Even our parents used to mix us up!" The twin smiled. "So is this guy a friend of yours?" She nodded to Watanuki's companion.

"Unfortunately." The seer replied unexcitedly.

"Hello." Doumeki replied in the same voice, greeting the girl.

"I'm so sorry for your trouble. Bro told me about how long you were looking even though it was so hot out yesterday. And after all that work, I can't believe he didn't ask for your name! It's just like him though, he's such a scatter brain sometimes." The twin shook her head.

"Don't worry about it." Watanuki brushed it off. It wasn't a big deal and the boy twin must've been stressed and just forgot anyway.

"Oh, I know!" The girl twin smiled widely. "Since there are two of you and two of us…why don't we get together for tea later?" Later when Watanuki and Doumeki were standing at the meeting spot, Watanuki finally lost it... again.

"Where did that come from?!" She shouted, stopping her feet. What she didn't know was that her uniform skirt had gotten caught on something and was now flipped up in the back, clinging to her jacket and Doumeki was leaning over to get a good peek at today's selection of underwear: red strawberries. The archer smiled, enjoying the view until the girl nearly shrieked off his eardrum so he had to stand up straight and clap his hands over his ears so they didn't bleed. "What even happened to old fashioned modesty and decorum and guys doing all the asking!? And she even asked me and I'm a girl!" In the process of yelling and stomping, the girl's skirt fell back into place and the boy sighed, missing the show already. Watanuki saw Doumeki's hands over his ears and grabbed his uniform shirt collar to shake him roughly. "Are you even listening to me, you big jerk!?"

"Were you waiting long?" The girl twin, Emiko, called walking up to the pair with her brother, Tomoyoshi. (1) Apparently, Emiko just called him Tomo for short and said that they could do the same and that he wouldn't mind. The girl was wearing a purple, ruffled shirt and skirt combo with a white, long-sleeved shirt underneath. Tomo was wearing a similar outfit from when Watanuki had seen him last: a white coat with gray pants and shoes.

"Oh, no! We just got here ourselves!" Watanuki let go of Doumeki's collar, hoping that their dates hadn't seen her trying to whiplash his head off.

"Oh good!" Emiko smiled brightly. Her brother was standing behind her with his head tipped down.

"It's nice to see you again." Tomo said quietly.

"Well, shall we then?" Emiko said, starting to walk across the street. Doumeki reached down and picked up his school bag first and Watanuki followed suit, brushing off her uniform skirt to make sure it wasn't flipped up.

"You know, I'm sorry we couldn't find it." Watanuki said as she drew level with Tomo. He looked at her, a little confused. "Your contact lens." She clarified and he nodded back at her. The four of them were all walking down the street, Doumeki walking next to Emiko and Watanuki next to Tomo. The girl twin looked back at her brother and his date and smiled, stepping closer to Doumeki in the process. That kind of ticked Watanuki off – but not because she liked Doumeki she just hated it when he got all the attention from the opposite sex!

"I hope you don't mind walking for a few more blocks." Emiko said to her date.

"Not at all." He replied, acting just like his usual self. Watanuki sighed in relief, hoping that the extra attention didn't go to his head.

"Well, the food is really wonderful. It's worth the extra walking." The girl twin replied.

"Please forgive me. I was all the way home before I realized that I didn't ask you your name." Watanuki turned to Tomo when he spoke. He was looking at the ground and not her, his wavy hair draping down the sides of his face.

"Hey, it's okay! Don't give it another thought." Watanuki gave him a bright smile.

"I don't know why but I always forget stuff like that. I'm so absent-minded. I can be so stupid." Tomo was smiling softly when he said those things, but Watanuki was worried about him. He was putting himself down a lot.

"Don't say that." She replied, trying to get him to stop dwelling on the negative.

"Sometimes I can't help but feel like a burden to my little sister." Tomo looked up finally, watching Emiko smile and talk to Doumeki.

"It looks like you and your sister are really close." Watanuki commented, diverting the subject.

"Yeah, but we don't have any other siblings." Tomo frowned. "So we always get stuck doing stuff together."

"You know what? I don't have any brothers or sisters so I wouldn't really know, but it sounds kind of fascinating…having a sister that has a face that looks so much like yours?"

"Yeah." Tomo sighed.

"Oh! Absolutely! I'm just crazy about Japanese sweets!" Emiko's conversation with Doumeki interrupted Watanuki and Tomo's.

"Yeah? What about dango?" Doumeki asked. (2)

"Yeah! We seem to enjoy a lot of the same things!"

"I guess…that even though the two of us look so similar. _We're completely different_." Tomo's voice echoed at the end as he spoke. There it is again! That feeling…Watanuki thought as she listened to the ringing noise like someone swirling their finger around a half full glass resonate around her, rippling out of Tomo.

They walked down a few more blocks and came to the café that Emiko recommended. They walked in and were seated at a round table in the middle of the floor. Watanuki was sandwiched in between Doumeki and Tomo and Emiko was sitting across from her and was sitting next to Doumeki. Tomo immediately picked up the menu and started looking, avoiding eye contact with everyone.

"So," Emiko started, "You both said you liked sweets earlier, right?"

"Sure!" Watanuki replied.

"I do." Doumeki said at the same time.

"Do you guys eat out much?" She asked.

"You mean to go out shopping and all that?" Watanuki asked, smiling nervously.

"Sometimes. I guess it depends." Doumeki replied.

"Depends on what?" Tomo asked, looking up from the menu.

"You mean…it depends on your girlfriend?" Emiko's eyes shifted over from Doumeki to Watanuki. _Oh, hell no! I'm not going to get labeled as that ass' girlfriend!_

"Nope!" Watanuki waved her hands in front of her face. "I'm not his girlfriend and I don't have a boyfriend!" Watanuki pointed to Doumeki, frowning hugely.

"Ah! That's too bad! Dating is just the greatest, right?" Emiko smiled at Doumeki, suddenly smug. Watanuki watched her and Doumeki and then turned to Tomo.

_"__Of course."_ He sighed, looking even more down that usual. The weird invisible ripples were emanating from him again, confusing Watanuki on what exactly he was doing to make them. But then Emiko interrupted her observation and ordered a variety of sweets they could all try (with Doumeki's input, of course). After they had all eaten (with Doumeki getting along famously with Emiko and Tomo staying silent most of the snack-meal) the four of them ended up outside the café.

"Thanks! It was great!" Watanuki said to the twins.

"Yeah, it was fun." Doumeki added.

"It was! I had a really fun time talking with you guys!" Emiko smiled.

"Uh…" Tomo started to say before his sister interrupted.

"Say, Doumeki!" Emiko interrupted. "You know that movie we were just talking about? Would you like to go see it with me?"

"Hm?" The archer replied.

"Why don't we all go together? I think I can get us a set of discounted tickets through my job. Well?" She waited for the reply. Doumeki looked over at Watanuki, his eyes holding the ghost of the question. The seer's first instinct was to be pissed off at him – _why is he looking at me like he needs permission?! I'm not his mother!_ – and then she realized that he was asking her about the spirit issue instead.

"Uh, I'm kind of uncomfortable in movie theaters." Watanuki chuckled nervously, putting her hand behind her head in embarrassment.

"Really? Why?" Emiko asked. Well, that was blunt. But it was an innocent question, I guess.

"Well, you see…they're dark." _And infested with spirits! Damn, that was a lame excuse._

"Do you have another friend that you could ask to go, Doumeki? As they say, the more the merrier!" Emiko just brushed off Watanuki and it ticked her off but then she noticed Doumeki's body language. _He doesn't seem like he wants to go. Someone should keep an eye on these two. And it's not because I'm worried about him or anything like that!_

"I'm in." Watanuki spoke up with a fake smile.

"Really?" Emiko asked.

"Yeah, I think I'll be fine. Once in a while is okay!" _As long as Doumeki's there, the spirits shouldn't bother me._

"Oh, that's great! This'll be fun!" The girl twin smiled even wider, her eyes lighting up in excitement. She started rummaging around in her purse but kept talking. "Just a sec, I'll make the call right now and order our tickets! You've got to strike when the iron's hot, right?" Emiko stepped away, beeping buttons on her phone and placing it against her ear.

"Yeah, I guess so…" Watanuki breathed, knowing that her comment fell on deaf ears because the girl was already talking on her phone.

_"__Of course."_ Tomo sighed, his voice echoing. The ripples appeared again, ringing in Watanuki's ears, but they got louder and slightly higher pitched as they went on. _"It always happens like this."_ The ringing was messing with Watanuki's head and making her feel nauseous. She placed her hands over the eyes and glasses, swaying a little with dizziness.

"Please stop…" She whispered. Tomo looked up and the ripples faded away.

The date ended after Emiko's phone call and they all went their separate ways. Watanuki ended up at Yuko's shop.

"So first it was tea and now you've got a date at the movies?" Yuko teased, juggling three small sacs full of beans that looked like little Mokonas in different colors. She was wearing her red smoke kimono and the purple obi with the lace on it that she wore when she sent Watanuki out in those ridiculous headphones to take care of the Angel game. Mokona was sitting below her and was juggling three sacs as well. Maru and Moro were getting into their mistress' drawers and pulling clothes out.

"It's not a date, Yuko." Watanuki stated as she unfolded the kimono that Yuko was going to change into, her red kimono with the white rose patterns and the huge yellow bow she loved to tie in the front.

"What did you say?" The witch asked above the sound of Maru and Moro and the sacs clicking sound as they hit her and Mokona's hands. "Sorry, you're going to have to speak a little louder than that."

"About those twins…" Watanuki asked, turning her head over her shoulder. "They are human, aren't they?"

"Did they seem inhuman somehow?" Yuko asked, watching her sacs go up and around and down and up again.

"That's not what I meant by that." Yuko let her white Mokona bean bag flip high into the air and caught it on her head, one hand close just in case it fell.

"Yes, they're human." She answered, shifting on her seat. Maru and Moro had now gotten into Yuko's obi drawer, taking several out and were running around with them in both hands, like streamers at a festival and they were laughing in delight. But Watanuki was going to have to fold them up and put them away later, which meant more work. The girl straightened her apron and head handkerchief and went back to the kimono she was working on. The girl sighed in relief that both the siblings were human. "I think you're over reacting about nothing."

"Yeah…maybe…" The seer breathed. And then her voice went back to her usual peeved tone as she untangled a knot from one of the kimono's sashes. The girl ignored the circus behind her and went back to talking about the twins. "I might be wrong but the younger twin seems really interested in Doumeki. Not that I care about that but it makes me feel weird."

"It makes you feel like the odd one out?" Yuko teased, smiling while she went back to juggling with three sacs.

"Odd one out!~ Odd one out!~" Maru and Moro sang.

"I assume that's what you're sulking about."

"I'm not sulking!" The girl hissed, stopping all conversation about her being concerned about Doumeki and another girl before Yuko could tease her some more.

"Sulking!~ Sulking!~" The twins echoed.

"Something about it just bothers me that's all!"

"Perhaps you're thinking, 'Why is Doumeki paying so much attention to her? Why doesn't he like me?'" Yuko did end up teasing the girl, using a cute pouty voice.

"NO! That's not it!" The girl spun on her knees so she could glare at Yuko directly in the face.

"Don't be jealous!~"

"I'm not jealous!" Then Watanuki hung her head, helpless to stop the teasing. "Would you please just listen to me?!"

"Alright, I'll listen to you." Yuko's face turned serious, but Watanuki couldn't take her completely seriously while she was still juggling. "After I'm done juggling." Watanuki sighed. An hour later – when Yuko finally got tired of not dropping the damn bean bags even once! – she changed into the red kimono with the yellow bow and finally listened as the girl explained the twin situation and the weird ripples.

"What you're sensing is a wave." Yuko said from behind the paper screen.

"A wave?" Watanuki asked, sitting outside of Yuko's room while she changed. Maru and Moro slid open the screen and Yuko poked her head out.

"Exactly, just like the rise and fall of water, the fluctuations of sound and light, even electromagnetism. Oscillations that come from a single source…oh and one more thing: a wave can create a pull that is impossible to resist." Watanuki looked up at the witch, half of her questions explained and half that just got more confusing with that last comment.

The next day at school when the teachers were having several students run tasks for them, Watanuki ran into Wari as she was carrying assignment sheets. She smiled and said hello to the cute boy and then started to tell him about theĵ day before and the delicious café (which she wanted to invite him to go to with her).

"Oh! You went to that tea shop?" Wari asked as they walked down the hall. "That place serves excellent food. You sure have good tastes, Watanuki!"

"Actually, I just happened to find it by chance!" The seer lied, playing it up.

"I really love that place." Wari smiled and his whole face lit up and sparkled. Watanuki blushed at his cuteness and then tipped back by its sheer force on her soul. She leaned into a backbend that almost had her head touching the floor and then slunk into a kneeling squat with her flyers as the boy just watched her curiously. _Wari is just…too cute!_ "Are you okay, Watanuki? Are you dizzy? Do you want me to carry the print outs for you?" Wari leaned over his rolled up poster and looked down at the girl. She shot up in a split second, not wanting to trouble her crush and shook her head really fast.

"Oh no! I'm fine! Just fine! Hey – you wouldn't want to go there with me sometime, would you?" As soon as the question was out, a problem arose in the girl's brain. _Wait…who did he eat with there before? Could it be…?_

"I went with a few of my friends in class once." Wari replied. An embarrassed zing shot up Watanuki's spine.

"Wait…did I just ask that out loud?" She inquired, hoping to high heaven that she hadn't (but probably did anyway).

"Hmm? Say what out loud?" Wari asked.

"Oh, never mind! It was nothing! Really!" Watanuki brushed it off. But...she decided that it wouldn't be a bad idea to take a page out of Emiko's book and ask Wari out. "Listen, would you like to go get some cake with me?"

"Actually, I prefer noodles." Doumeki replied, standing right next to Wari.

"BWAAAAH!" Watanuki threw her handouts up into the air where they scattered all over as she pulled a Matrix back flip and flopped on the floor in exasperation.

"You running errand for the teacher too?" Wari asked.

"Yeah." Doumeki replied. _Why does he always show up at the exact wrong time?! _Watanuki glared at the unwanted interruption as she picked up her printouts. "Why don't you meet me today in homeroom? That way we'll be able to leave together." The way Doumeki said it sounded like they were going out.

"Yeah. Fine!" The girl hissed, picking up the last of her paper.

"Going somewhere?" Wari asked Doumeki. Watanuki's head shot up in panic, the thought that Wari really thought that they were going out flashing through her brain.

"No!" She interjected harshly.

"To the movies." Doumeki undermined that with his neutral voice. Watanuki's jaw hit the floor. _Wari's going to think we're dating! NOOO!_

"Just the two of you?" Wari asked. Watanuki dropped her papers again as she stood up and tried to figure out a way to fix the situation.

"There's going to be four of us." Doumeki answered. _That's even worse! Now he's going to think that I'm going out with someone else!?_

"Oh?"

"I think they said they were college students." _Now he's going to think I'm a gold digger and that Doumeki's a cougar hunter…but I don't really care about that big, stupid, jerkass!_ "We're meeting them at the Sakashita bus station."

"Oh, the one in front of the woman's college?"

"Wait! It's not what you think, Wari!" Watanuki waved her hands in front of the boy's face, trying to distract him and explain the situation.

"I hope it's an interesting movie! Have a good time!" Wari smiled brightly, looking completely clueless to Watanuki's plight.

The seer was so moody after that encounter that she couldn't even look at Doumeki for the rest of school or while waiting at the bus stop. After a few minutes of silence, Emiko and Tomo walked up, the former being all bright and smiley and the latter being all gloomy as usual. Emiko was wearing a blue skirt and shirt today and Tomo had paired a green, long-sleeved shirt with his gray pants, but he had ditched the coat this time. They all said hello and then made their way to the movie theater. Emiko fished out their tickets from her purse and got them in the theater in no time at all. They took their seats with Emiko sitting next to Doumeki, Watanuki next to him and Tomo next to her. The movie itself wasn't really interesting to Watanuki – it had something to do with a school girl with either supernatural powers or weird things just happened to her (kind of like Watanuki's whole thing with spirits and such) – and right now on the screen there were fish flying through the air and the girl was floating after them.

_Wari didn't seem concerned at all that I was coming here with someone else_! Watanuki frowned in her seat. The girl shook her head a couple of times and smiled. _No, no! He was just being nice! He wanted me to enjoy the movie! He didn't want me to be upset!_ But then her eyes widened in concern and her chin dropped to her chest in depression. _But that means that he doesn't care that I'm going out with other people. But wait! He wasn't worried about Doumeki either…so what does that mean? _The girl's head snapped up and then she realized she was worrying about something dealing with Doumeki again. _I am such a loser. _On the movie screen, another girl was dragging her body over to the fish-girl in the black uniform, a black fog drifting onto the screen. In the right corner of the theater, a gruesome spirit did the same, rising up from the seats. But as usual, only Watanuki could see it.

Several more spirits rose up from the seats of the theater, their looming presence sending shivers up the girl's spine. They were all around her, writhing and wriggling in the dim theater and eyeing several of the humans in there. _It_ _figures that they'd show up during the scary part, _Watanuki sighed. _Of course, they'd show up eventually anyway. Spirits are so predictable, and that's why I avoid dark places like movie theaters! Even though they're predictable, they're still scary._ The spirits were still wiggling, but they weren't coming any closer to the girl and that was odd because they always tried to get at her. Watanuki gave Doumeki a sideways glance, frowning at his stupid face. _But with him here…I should be alright, as long as he doesn't ruin it._ Right at that exact moment, Doumeki noticed Watanuki staring at him and decided to tease the girl, just a little.

"Don't tell me you're scared?" He said, eyeing the girl.

"Of course I'm not scared, you jerk!" Watanuki whisper-yelled back (they were in a theater after all). _But man, am I irritated!_ Someone screamed onscreen and Emiko dove into Doumeki's left arm, hiding her face in his sleeve.

"I'm sorry about that." She apologized, looking up at Doumeki's unemotional face.

"It's okay." _You idiot! She's obviously making a pass at you! That's the oldest trick in the book! _Watanuki frowned again.

"It's scarier than I thought it would be!" She whispered back. "I don't know what I would do without you to hold onto. You make me feel safer somehow." Emiko smiled cutely. _She's got a pretty tight grip on him,_ Watanuki observed. She didn't know if that made her mad or jealous or both. I wonder if normal people can sense Doumeki's ability to ward off spirits. Watanuki looked down at Emiko's hands (still wrapped around Doumeki's arm) and turned to look at her own "date." Tomo wasn't even paying attention to the movie, just sadly looking down at his hands and their white-knuckled grip on his pants.

"Are you okay?" Watanuki asked, wanting to make sure Tomo was doing alright. His head slowly came up, his eyes opening to look at hers. "Is it too scary?" Watanuki felt kind of stupid for asking a guy that question (but hey, even guys get scared sometimes), but Tomo just shook his head.

"No. I'm fine." He went back to staring at his hands_. I'm guess I'm not the type guys like to open up to._ Watanuki looked back to Emiko (who was still leaning into Doumeki's arm) and Tomo (who was still not making eye contact with anyone) and then the girl looked up at Doumeki's passive face, illuminated by the screen. _I wonder if Tomo would rather talk to Doumeki over me. But if so, then why hasn't he?_

As Watanuki was looking back to Tomo, he shivered, his whole body convulsing and a spirit behind them hissed.

_"__I want to go." _Tomo whispered, the echoey sound resonating in Watanuki's ears again. The waves appeared again and the seer knew that Tomo was doing that weird thing again. _"I wish I could leave." _He whispered again. With those words, the ringing took on an urgent tone, like sirens on an ambulance and the spirits in the theater started reacting, shifting closer and growling at the boy sitting next to Watanuki, their yellow and red eyes blinking excitedly. The girl flinched at seeing so many spirits crowding in on them that she almost bolted for the door, if she hadn't needed to grab her pounding head, the waves of sound bouncing around in the skull until it throbbed.

And then, something fell on Tomo's hand. It was bright red and spread like a drop of water when it hit the boy's skin. Watanuki looked down at the drop and then up at her "date's" face. There was blood running down the center of his forehead, splitting into twin trails of red when they hit his nose, the liquid still dropping onto his hands as he gazed straightforward. Watanuki opened her mouth to scream, but never got the chance.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

_Waves…like the rise and fall of water…the fluctuations of sound and light. Electromagnetism… oscillations from a source that are impossible to resist._

_Waves…that which swells and subsides. _

_Waves…that which is born and spreads. _

_Waves…that which one cannot dispute. _

_ "__No I can't do it. I'll just mess it up. I can't do anything right." _Tomo's voice echoed in Watanuki's mind.

_Chains…the laws of nature, the passage of time, the vessel we think of as out body, the ego we call the mind. _

_ "__Even though we look alike…we are completely different." _He spoke again in her head as the girl wordlessly tried to scream at the blood on her date's face.

_There is only one chain that people have the power to control…_

"I want _to go." _Tomo had whispered a few seconds ago, his words rippling out from his mouth. Drops of blood were falling from his face, flecking his hand with blood as they splattered on his skin.

"What's the matter? Are you alright?!" Watanuki stood up in her seat and grabbed Tomo's shoulder, completely forgetting about the movie.

"Bro! Blood is running down your face!" Emiko jumped to her feet when she saw her brother's wound. Tomo looked at both of them curiously, his hand tentatively touching his forehead and coming away red. He stared at his own blood, like he didn't understand what he was seeing. Doumeki was immediately moving, brushing past Watanuki, grabbing his school bag and holding out a hand to Tomo.

"Come on." He said, but when the other boy didn't take his hand, the archer grabbed Tomo's wrist and yanked him out of his seat. The pair of boys walked out of the theater, the pair of girls following close behind. The theater doors opened, letting in a burst of light as the boys walked out.

"Did he bump his head before you got here?" Watanuki asked Emiko.

"He falls down all the time, but he hasn't fallen down today." She explained, wringing her hands together as they watched the door close in front of them.

"There's nothing around here that he could hurt himself on." Watanuki said, stopping to take another look around. _Maybe it was a spirit. No. I would've noticed. _The seer and Emiko finished walking up the aisle, opening the door to the brightly lit lobby to see Tomo sitting on a couch under a slew of movie posters and Doumeki was holding out a handkerchief to him. Tomo accepted the cloth and wiped his face off, looking up afterwards to smile at Doumeki affectionately. And Watanuki's brain did what Watanuki's brain did, and instantly clapped Tomo and Wari together as guys that liked Doumeki romantically (even if it wasn't true and she was just fabricating the whole thing). The grateful look that the boy gave the archer halted Watanuki in her tracks, halfway peeking out the door, because she felt like she shouldn't interrupt.

"_I want to go." _Tomo's words echoed in Watanuki's head again, reminding the girl that he wanted to leave the movie…and now he had. Emiko pushed past the seer and sat down next to her brother, placing both hands on her shoulders. Doumeki just stood by them, hands shoved into both of his pants pockets.

"What happened, Tomo? You can tell me." Emiko prodded.

"There's no need to worry about me. I feel just fine now." Tomo replied, smiling softly to alleviate his sister's worry.

"Really?" His twin asked. "That's great, but…"

"Something's off." Watanuki whispered, more to herself than to anyone else.

"I'm sorry for making you worry." Tomo apologizing to his sister. "But seriously I feel fine."

They decided not to go back into the movie and for that, Watanuki was grateful. She'd had enough weirdness on this date to last a lifetime, and that was saying something, coming from a girl who dealt with the supernatural every day. Doumeki and Watanuki walked to the bus stop and then walked in their separate directions after Doumeki had teased Watanuki for being scared in the movie theater again (which he did in his usual voice but she still blew up at him). In the end, Watanuki ended up back at Yuko's, but this time instead of cleaning, she was put in charge of playing with Maru and Moro. The girl disregarded her apron and head handkerchief and knelt next to the twins in one of the shop's many rooms, staring at the karuta cards scattered face up on the floor. (3)

"Here's your first clue: If the dog keeps walking he'll hit Mokona!" Mokona called out, holding up a card to its face so no one could see it.

"Got it!" Maru called, placing her hand over the karuta card with a falling dog and Mokona on it.

"Got it!" Moro called happily, sliding her hand under her twin's. She held up the card triumphantly. "You lose!" Maru frowned angrily.

"Second one: If you pile up Mokonas, they become a mountain!"

"Got it!" Maru called first, placing her hand over a card with black and white Mokonas piled up like a mountain.

"Got it!" Moro called, sliding her fingers under her twin's again. Maru frowned again, even angrier.

"No fair! You cheated!" She accused her pink-haired twin.

"That's ridiculous. I didn't cheat!" Moro said, turning her head away with a smile. As Watanuki listened, she noted that this was one of the rare times were the twins weren't repeating or copying each other's words.

"Here's the next one: The white Mokona hides while the black one doesn't!" The fur ball called, holding up another card.

"Got it!" Moro called, placing her hand on the card.

"Got it!" Maru called after her, sliding her fingers under Moro's and smiling mischievously.

"I got it!" Moro argued, upset that her blue-haired twin was doing exactly what she had done.

"This one's mine!" Maru gloated, holding up the card.

"Now look who's cheating, huh?" Moro snidely remarked.

"Not cheating, just better!" Maru argued. Mokona continued before they could argue more.

"Rescue the Mokona from the inferno!" It called.

"Got it!" Moro called.

"Got it!" Maru slipped her finger under again. Then their hands kept sliding under the other's in a contest to see who could cheat more to get card.

"Got it!"

"Got it!"

"Got it!"

"You think he did it to himself?" Yuko asked over the continued calls of "got it" as the twins fought over the card, referring to the movie theater incident the girl was telling her about. Yuko was wearing a butterfly themed dress today that Watanuki had to help her put on before she joined the game. There was a huge blue butterfly over Yuko's breasts, two hooked over her biceps, two that made a bracelet on each wrist and a matching necklace around the slender column of the witch's throat, her purple skirt draping gracefully around her legs and onto the floor. She held up the one karuta card she'd acquired during the game up to her chin, watching her employee with her cranberry eyes.

"That's crazy, right?" Watanuki asked, scooting back as the twin's crawled all over the cards, blocking each other and falling all over the floor. "But how else could he just get hurt?" The girl brushed her gray skirt down, smoothing out non-existent wrinkles.

"He said he wanted to get out of there, yes?" Yuko asked. "Just before it happened? And the odd sensation you felt at that moment, was it the first time you had felt it around this boy?" The girl thought for a moment, and then several instances popped into her head.

"His contact lens!"

_"__I'm pretty sure we won't be able to find it." _

"That's right." Yuko nodded. "What you felt was a wave. You had no hope of finding the lens because he restricted you from discovering it."

"Then what you said before, about the one chain people can control…its words, isn't it?" Watanuki asked, the pieces finally clicking into place. Yuko leaned on her kyousoku, her breasts getting pushed up as she bent over the arm rest. (4) One of those weird moments happened, the ones were insubstantial smoke appeared everywhere as she picked up her pipe and this time, the cards scattered across the floor glowed too, their images turning white as Yuko spoke.

"Indeed. They are frightening, words…once they escape a person's lips, they cannot be called back. Once heard, they cannot be ignored. Still people throw them are far too lightly, often unaware of the chains they create." That strange ringing was back in Watanuki's ears, but this time, the sound wasn't' hurting her, even though she knew Yuko was causing it. Instances of the waves Yuko was talking about echoing in Watanuki's memory, all of them having to deal with Tomo.

_"__What if I make a mistake cooking it?" _

_"__I can't help but feel like a burden to my little sister."_

"Words are alive…and they can set the course of a person's future." Yuko's painted lips moved smoothly, mesmerizing Watanuki as she watched the witch speak. Yuko had said something like this before, when she was helping the housewife with the addiction to the internet. _Names have power. _And what were names? _Words. _Ripples appeared around Yuko's lips, confirming what Watanuki was just starting to understand as the witch smiled.

The next day, the words Yuko had spoken to her took Watanuki to Doumeki, her thoughts worried about Tomo and his sister. But all day long she kept getting interrupted by people as she was _trying_ to bring up the subject to her classmate and then she got pissed at herself for trying to talk to Doumeki _willingly_ at all so she shut up about it until school ended. And then Doumeki had gone to archery practice before the girl got a chance to catch him after school so she ended up watching him from just inside the doors of the club, leaning against a row of cubbies as she simmered in her worried thoughts and her dislike and confusion at wanting to talk to Doumeki about all of it.

The archer was dressed in his practice clothes – white gi, black hakama, and tabi socks – and fired and arrow that nearly hit the bull's eye of his target, zipping through the air and missing all the other scattered arrows that his classmates had fired. Doumeki took his stance again, swinging his bow up and notching his second arrow above the fingers of his left hand as he drew the bowstring back with his right. His gloved fingers shifted slightly as he lined up his shot and then the teen released his arrow, burying the tip right into the center of the target with a _twack_! Doumeki brought his arms down, twisting his bow into his body and moved his hips forward and then back a couple of times to loosen his muscles from standing so rigidly for all of practice. He turned towards the cubbies and started walking out to get a drink when he saw Watanuki by the doors. The girl had gotten off the lockers before her rival had turned around and was leaning against the doorframe to the outside, pretending like she hadn't been watching the brunette the whole time and also pretending that she wasn't impressed with him. When she heard Doumeki's footsteps, she turned her head over her shoulder too look at him, worry creasing her eyebrows. Doumeki instantly knew that she wanted to talk and nodded to his club advisor before leaving the range.

They walked outside and the pair made their way to a set of sinks on the side of the range building. Doumeki pulled out his towel as the girl sat down on one side of the sinks, folding her skirt under her so it didn't flip up (much to they boy's disappointment). The archer walked to the other side of the sinks as the girl started talking, listening intently to her as he opened up his gi to get the fabric off his hot skin, turning on the water spigot.

"So what do you want to do?" Doumeki asked, after Watanuki had explained what Yuko had told her and that she'd been worrying about Tomo for a while now.

"Hm?" The girl asked.

"About the twins." Doumeki clarified, wrapping his newly wet towel around his neck and patting his sweaty skin. "Are we going to see them again or not?"

"It's not really my decision, now is it?" The girl snapped back, her voice upset for reasons she couldn't understand.

"Its not?" Doumeki asked, wondering why Watanuki didn't think it was her decision when she was obviously worried about Tomo. It actually kind of got to Doumeki, his pride pricking slightly as the girl _he_ liked was worrying about some _other_ guy.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten!" Watanuki snapped again, whipping her head around to glare at Doumeki as he wiped off his neck with his towel. "You're the one who planted an in when you asked Tomo for your handkerchief back! And if Tomo's going to return it, Emiko can't be far behind." Watanuki was confused as to why she was feeling defensive about Emiko, maybe it was just that she clung to Doumeki too much. Doumeki almost smiled just a little bit when he realized that in her own way, Watanuki was jealous about Emiko, even if she didn't really like Doumeki.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't call that an in. I really don't care." Doumeki replied. The handkerchief wasn't important. What was important was that Watanuki was defensive about it, and that made all the difference.

"What do you mean, you don't care?" The seer asked, confused.

"It's just a handkerchief. It's not that big of a deal if I lose it." Doumeki dropped his towel into the sink and folded his arms. Maybe Watanuki would take the hint and realize that Doumeki didn't really care about Emiko either.

"What? Seriously?!" Watanuki frowned, tisking. "Both of those twins seemed pretty into you. Even Tomo of all things!"

"You think so?" Doumeki said, his voice holding a challenge.

"Like you didn't notice!" Watanuki growled, her sharp teeth popping out. She was pissed that _apparently_ the jerkass couldn't even tell when people where signaling that they were into him! It just wasn't fair that he got all the attention from girls and apparently guys as well when she was having trouble getting the one guy _she_ liked to even notice her romantically! "They couldn't have been more obvious if they'd hung signs around their necks! So don't stand there playing dumb!" Doumeki plugged his ears as Watanuki's rant reached its loudest volume, closing his eyes so he wouldn't have to see her scary angry face.

"Alright, fair enough." He admitted that both the twins were not subtle about their attraction to him, even Tomo. And Doumeki was definitely into girls so the boy didn't interest him. And panties. He liked panties too. "But what about you?"

"Hm?" Watanuki angry face melted away and she pushed her glasses back up on her nose.

"You still haven't answered: are we going to see them again or not?" Doumeki wanted this to be Watanuki's decision. If she didn't want to see the twins again, he wouldn't push it. The girl sighed and dropped her head to her chest.

"There's really no reason for us to go out again. I'd just be dead weight." Doumeki rolled his eyes at the girl, disappointed that she felt like the fourth wheel to their group when he clearly wanted her there, but she didn't notice either the eye roll or his desire to be with her. "Still…that poor boy is very trapped…chained down by his own words."

"So what have you decided?" Doumeki asked for a third time. Watanuki shook her head as she moaned in frustration.

"Now that I know about his problem, I can't exactly ignore it. I feel like I should warn him." Doumeki didn't say anything and a drop of water fell from the spigot he'd been using, the small noise filling the pause. "Not like he'd believe me anyway. He'll just laugh at me and call me crazy." Watanuki's head sunk even lower. "I'll just come off looking like some nut job." Years of pain and rejection coated her words, and Doumeki was only beginning to understand the hardship of Watanuki's gift when it came to other people. The spirit aspect of it he understood – the haunting and harassing was easy enough to comprehend because of his grandfather's stories and his own experiences when he tagged along on Watanuki's errands – but something about the way Watanuki talked about sharing her gift to others tipped him off that the girl had been called crazy and a nut job every time she tried to tell someone about the spirits or tried to help others with spirits and supernatural happenings they couldn't see. It made the archer sad to see that Watanuki now lacked confidence in herself because of things that happened in her past, her own set of chains weighing down her convictions to help others on the off chance she'd be rejected and laughed at again. Doumeki decided that he was going to help her change that, in whatever way he could.

"If you think it's the right thing to do then you should do it." Doumeki said firmly. Watanuki looked up at him, surprised at his words. "If you say it's pointless, aren't you just doing what he does?" Watanuki's mouth was working, but no words were coming out, her stunned silence letting Doumeki continue. "Tell you what; I'll even come with you."

"Uh…really?" Watanuki stood up, still in shock. _She's obviously not used to people offering to help her with these things, even though I've been doing it for a while now, _Doumeki noted.

"Pick up the tab and we'll call it even." _No need to rush things, _Doumeki concluded, adding just a bit of normalcy to lighten up the conversation. The seer fell over in a different kind of shock and then leapt to her feet in an instant, eyes blazing and fists clenched in fury.

"You're looking for a free lunch!" Watanuki shrieked.

Still, despite having the issue of the tab hanging over her, Watanuki agreed to meet the twins again and the next afternoon found them at the Rira Caffe where Emiko worked. Watanuki and Doumeki went in and Emiko waved at them from the counter, pointing to a booth where her brother was sitting before returning to her customers. Watanuki walked over to the booth and sat down first, sliding into the seat as Doumeki sat down next to her on the outside seat. Tomo was sitting across from both of them, fiddling with the buttons on his red shirt nervously and he wouldn't really meet either of the teens in the eye.

"Um, I'm sorry. I washed you handkerchief for you, but the stain wouldn't come out so I bought you this one." Tomo dug around his bag and pulled out a new handkerchief, holding out the wrapped package to Doumeki with both hands.

"Thank you." Doumeki replied, taking the thin box and placing it in his school bag before closing it up again and setting it next to Watanuki. Tomo finally looked up at the archer, before blushing slightly and hiding his face in his hair again. "I'll get us some drinks." Doumeki said, getting up at walking away.

"Uh, okay." Watanuki said after him. Both the girl and the boy watched Doumeki walk up to the counter where Emiko was.

"Hello! May I take your order?" The girl twin asked, smiling brightly at her new customer.

"Do you like him?" Watanuki asked, placing her elbows on the table and folding one hand over the other to rest her chin on them. Tomo didn't have to answer; the surprised, embarrassed look on his face gave it away. _So he really does like that ass. Damn, that Doumeki for stealing everyone's heart. _But despite her jealously towards Doumeki and his growing crowd of fangirls (or boys, in this case) she still smiled at the boy twin. "Don't let the sour look fool you; he's not going to bite you or anything. You should try talking to him." _I can't believe I'm chalking him up to a guy! _Tomo looked back over his shoulder nervously, his eyes flitting towards Doumeki.

"I don't know. Wouldn't it be weird for me to admit that I like another guy? And besides, I can't compete with my sister. Look at her. _She's always been so much more confident and outgoing than me. If I tried to compete with her I'd just fail miserably. Why should I even try?_" Tomo's hands came up and he threw them over his face. The ripples that only Watanuki could see started coming from all directions, surrounding the boy as he spoke. 

"Don't say that!" Watanuki interrupted. Tomo's head popped up, surprised and the ripples disappeared. "You'll never know unless you try, right? You shouldn't talk yourself down so much!" Watanuki encouraged. _I can't believe that I'm giving self esteem advice to a guy! _"Try saying that you do have good qualities! 'Kay?" The girl smiled brightly.

"You think so?" Tomo asked, giggling. It was the first time Watanuki had heard him laugh.

"Absolutely! Just saying it makes a big difference! Trust me." Watanuki smiled, already seeing a slight change in the boy's body language.

"So, just focusing on my good qualities won't make me feel so bad?"

"Right!" Just then, Doumeki returned with drinks, holding one out to Tomo.

"Here. It's a milk coffee." He said.

"Huh?" Tomo replied.

"It's what you like, right? When we were out the other day I remembered you ordered one to go with your cake." Tomo just stared at Doumeki in shock. "It's my way of saying thanks, for the handkerchief." Tomo smiled brightly.

"Th-thank you!" He took the cup with both hands, hiding his blush behind his wavy hair. Watanuki smiled at the boy twin and he smiled back, finally looking happy.

"And iced tea for you." Doumeki said, handing Watanuki her cup. The girl was also surprised that he'd remembered her favorite drink, but didn't let it show, taking the cup and raising an eyebrow at him. The rest of the meeting went smoothly as they all chatted (or at least Watanuki and Tomo talked, Doumeki only nodded a few times and spoke even less) and by the time Watanuki got to Yuko's shop that day, she was so happy that she didn't even complain about cleaning and hummed and danced in the kitchen as she prepared a sugary dessert.

"Someone seems chipper today," Yuko commented, leaning against the kitchen's doorframe in the yellow dress she'd been wearing the other day.

"Chipper, chipper, Watanuki!~ Chipper, chipper, Watanuki!~" Maru and Moro chanted, joining in Watanuki's little dance.

"Don't keep me in suspense." Yuko said, walking up to the island counter and eating a cherry right out of Watanuki's bowl. The girl didn't even care and just kept whipping up cream, swishing the bowl over her head as she danced.

"Doumeki and I met up with those twins again – well, mostly the older brother." Watanuki revealed.

"Hm."

"And thanks to yours truly, he got a new outlook on life." Watanuki lifted her whisk out of her cream for a moment before putting it back in and setting the bowl down. "You know, you were right – about our words being alive and stuff. And I completely get it down that chains don't have to just bind people, they can connect and link us together too!" Watanuki slipped on her pink oven mitts and leaned over to open the over door and take out the small cakes she'd been baking. "I just got him to say something positive about himself and his whole demeanor did a three-sixty. Words really are amazing." The girl placed the hot pan she'd just taken out of on a large hot pad.

"Yes, but still…the words we speak are not the only ones that bind." Yuko said softly.

"Huh?" Watanuki turned around to discover that Yuko and the twins had disappeared, as did half the cream she was whisking. She just shrugged and went back to the hot cakes, slicing fruit and making more cream.

The after school snack the next day was very gratifying and Watanuki's good mood carried over from the day before, so she was very pleased when she unveiled the pièce de résistance of the meal by bringing out the variety of cakes she'd created yesterday.

"Oh wow! Watanuki, did you really make all of these yourself?" Wari asked in awe.

"It's no big deal. I'd just thought that I'd try out baking some cakes like the ones from the café you like so much." Watanuki replied, putting her head behind her pony tail and rubbing her head embarrassedly. The three of there were at the park, Watanuki and Wari sitting on the play animals and Doumeki on the wall with the cake box on the ground in between them.

"Aw, they're perfect! I would've never noticed the difference!" The boy complimented. A tan hand shot out and grabbed a cake with lots of fruit on it and Doumeki took a bite immediately.

"Damn it, you jerk!" Watanuki screamed. "Who said you could have the first pick?!" Wari reached inside the shopping bag he'd brought along and held out a can of coffee to the archer.

"Here you go!" Wari smiled.

"Thank you." Doumeki said, sticking the cake in his mouth and holding it there while he grabbed the drink.

"Wari, what are you doing?! You don't need to put yourself out by bringing him coffee!" The seer said in a concerned, sweet voice. And then she rounded on Doumeki and growled.

"What's wrong? Just help yourself." Doumeki told the girl, popping the last bite of his cake into his mouth and taking a drink of coffee.

"I don't need your damn permission!" Watanuki snarled. A laugh behind the girl stole her attention and Watanuki turned to discover Tomo watching them.

"Looks like you're having fun." He smiled sweetly as the wind tossed his wavy hair around his face. He looked different today, even wearing the same gray pants and white coat that Watanuki had seen him in the most, so it wasn't the clothes that had changed him.

"Good afternoon!" Watanuki said, standing up to greet the boy twin.

"Having a picnic with your friends?" Tomo asked as he walked up.

"Kinda." Watanuki blushed. Tomo nodded to Doumeki and Wari (who she hadn't met yet). "So what are you up too?" Watanuki leaned in and got a good look at the boy, smiling at the changes. He seemed a lot happier now. "You're so cheerful now."

"Thanks to you! I'm more confident now." Tomo smiled again. "I used to have this ritual where I'd convince myself that was going to fail at something before I even tried it. I thought about what you said and lately I've been trying to say that you never know until you try. It seems to be working for me too. Ever since I started thinking that, I've been messing up less." His smiled faded just a little. "But it could just be my imagination." Watanuki shook her head.

"Don't be hard on yourself. You've just got to keep at it! Instead of saying, 'you never know,' try saying, 'I'm positive things will go well!'" Watanuki smiled at the boy.

"I'm positive things will go well…" He said, smiling again.

"That's perfect!"

"Would you like some?" Doumeki interrupted, giving Tomo a cake.

"Thank you!"

"Hands off, Doumeki! You can't just give stuff away that doesn't belong to you!" Watanuki ranted. Doumeki slapped his hands over his ears. "I made those, you no good thief!" Tomo chuckled at the pair.

"Would you like to have a drink with us?" Wari offered, holding up and extra can of coffee. Tomo smiled with Watanuki.

"You're boyfriend?" The boy twin whispered to the girl.

"Eek! Well-I-um…he…No! We're, we're – what I mean is-" Watanuki flapped her arms around like an idiot while trying to explain things, but the words were getting all garbled up as they left her mouth. Doumeki took this opportunity of Watanuki's distraction to snag another cake.

"Then Doumeki's?" Wari asked, and Watanuki was taken aback for a second, not used to someone being so open about guys liking guys. And then she snapped into defensive mode and waved her hand in front of her nose.

"No, definitely not. He wouldn't give that jerk the time of day."

"Oh." Tomo replied, blushing slightly. Watanuki looked back at Doumeki and then to Tomo. The boy twin stopped blushing and ate his cake. "It's delicious. And this is a perfect day for a picnic. Right now, it really seems as if things are going well."

"Mmm hmm." Watanuki nodded.

"By the way, I was wondering…if you're not busy…I'm working part time at the café now if you'd like to drop by." Tomo offered.

A few days later, Watanuki took him up on his offer.

"Seriously…what did I do to deserve this?!" Watanuki said between clenched teeth as she glared at her unwanted companion. Doumeki just stared back. "Can't I go anywhere without you tagging along?!"

"He invited all of us, if I recall." Doumeki pointed out. Watanuki repeatedly slapped her hands on the table, tears streaming down her face.

"That's not the point! I wanted to come with Wari! Not you!" The girl broke down on the table, crying dramatically. Doumeki just picked up the menu and started to pick out sweets he wanted.

"But Wari had piano lessons this afternoon." Doumeki reminded the girl. Her head came up and Doumeki got a good look at mournful Watanuki-face.

"I knoooow! Buuut…!" The girl's head plunked back down on the table as she continued to cry. Footsteps approaching the table caught the girl's attention and her wailing instantly stopped as she looked up and smiled. But when she saw Tomo's face, her smiled dropped of her own. Tomo was standing in front of them, wearing the butler/waiter uniform of the café: white, crisp shirt, black pants, a small black apron around his waist and a black tie.

"Good to see you again." The smile on the boy's face looked fake and when he looked at Doumeki, he crawled back into his shell. Tomo hid his hands behind his back, but not before Watanuki saw the bandages around all of his fingers. "So, uh…what can I get you guys?"

"Uh, I'll have the cake plate with tea." Watanuki answered, smiling awkwardly.

"Make that two." Doumeki agreed, closing the menu.

"'Kay." Tomo bowed to them both and reached to take the menu. "I'll have that right out." Watanuki blinked and watched him walk away, a weird glowing aura surrounding the boy twin's body.

"What happened?" Watanuki asked. "When we were talking to him at the park, he seemed so cheerful." Doumeki remained silent.

"Hi, guys." Another familiar voice called. Doumeki and Watanuki both looked to see Emiko coming towards them. "Would it be alright if I joined you?" The girl twin smiled, smoothing out her yellow cardigan and green skirt before sitting down at the empty seat on their table.

"Yeah, sure." Watanuki said.

"When my brother told me he wanted to work here I was more than a little worried." Emiko placed her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her hands. "I told him that I might not be a good idea, the way he's dropping dishes at home, so I come by to keep an eye on him." As she was speaking, Emiko's twin was coming back with a tray holding tea cups. He was taking very slow, deliberate steps, the cups rattling with each footfall. His face was pinched in worry and concentration.

"You watch him? Often?" Watanuki asked.

"Sure!" Emiko replied.

"Are you that worried about him?" Doumeki questioned.

"Yes. We're siblings, isn't it natural for me to want to fuss over him?"

"Be careful with that tray. You're about to _spill_ _those cups."_ Emiko called to her brother as he walked toward the table. Watanuki gasped as she heard the echoing that meant words were taking effect and a ripple slid through the air and wrapped itself around Tomoyoshi. "Watch your balance. Don't slouch or you'll _tip_ _the tray!"_ Watanuki's head snapped towards Emiko, watching the ripples sprout from her lips and travel to her brother. Tomo stopped in the middle of the floor and it was all Watanuki could do to watch multiple sets of echoes wash over the twin. "See? Now customers are watching you. They can see you're _nervous. Pay attention! No spilling!"_

Tomo's hand came out with one of the tea cups, shaking, and he trembled so badly that the cup did tip off the saucer, the hot tea splashing on Doumeki's arm and the tea cup shattering on the floor.

"How embarrassing. Forgive him." Emiko asked Doumeki as she took out her handkerchief and dabbed at the tea on his arm. Tomo just stood there, frozen, like he couldn't believe what he had done either.

"It's no big deal." The archer said.

"You see? This is why I begged you not to get a service job." Emiko continued, talking to her brother again.

"I'm so sorry! Let me help you." Tomo finally started moving, grabbing his own handkerchief and leaning towards Doumeki's arm with one of his bandaged hands.

_"__Stay back. Just stop! You're hopeless!"_ Emiko commanded softly. Tomo did stop, frozen as each new sentence created ripples and the ringing sound that messed with Watanuki's head. _"All you do is screw up. _Look at those fingers! It's only been a week _and he's already maimed himself. _I swear, every time I'm in here_ you get worse. _Mom and dad would have a fit if they knew how much _trouble you cause." _Watanuki's head was aching from all the noise and the ripples that Emiko kept creating, and her words seemed to start making Tomo's hands bleed at the mention of his cuts he probably had under the bandages.

"I failed. _I knew I would." _The boy whispered, looking at his bleeding hands.

"The smartest thing for you to do now is _just quit." _Emiko stood up when she was done cleaning Doumeki's arms and took her brother by the shoulders. _"You don't even like talking to strangers, much less serve them. Being a waiter isn't for you, there's no shame in that. It's better for you to stay home and calm your nerves and relax, that suits you. It's worthless for you to push yourself at something you're not good at." _Watanuki's head pounded and she had to squeeze her temples with her hand to even pay attention to what was going on, but the ripples kept coming, the eerie sound kept ringing and she was aching inside and out by what Emiko was saying.

"Right? Come on…_quit." _Emiko finally stopped talking. Tomo sank to the ground, completely zoned out. Watanuki's head cleared a little as she shot to her feet. She could finally see the final product of Emiko's words. Tomo was completely weighed down, the spider's web of chains that bound him up plain to see now, but of course, only to her eyes.

"No! Don't listen to your sister!" Watanuki argued, walking around Doumeki and Emiko and knelt next to Tomo. "Everyone stumbles from time to time, especially when trying something new! But that's when you have to dig your heels in and try harder! You never quit!" Tomo didn't respond, he didn't even move. Watanuki tried one more time. "You just have to believe in yourself!"

"And what is something bad were to happen to him? Then what?" Emiko piped in as she knelt, wrapping her brother in her arms and turning defensive on Watanuki, staring her down. The seer had no answer for her.

"One must take the responsibility for one's own choices." A soothing voice said next to Watanuki, a warm hand resting on her shoulder. The girl looked up and saw Yuko standing above her with a fork in her hand, wearing an attractive red dress. She'd probably been eating in another part of the café and the girl just hadn't noticed.

"Yuko!" The woman licked her lips.

"Words have power. Pity has no comfort when you're consumed by doubt." The witch said, looking down at the twins. Yuko licked her lips again, like she wanted to savor the situation. "And if you enjoy living underneath someone's thumb, then there is no harm being tied down by the limitations they place on you." Watanuki stood up to get out of Yuko's way and Doumeki stood to take Emiko out of the way as well. The witch knelt down in front of Tomo. "Just think, whatever comfort you feel now is nothing compared to the joy you'll feel when you're free to tell yourself, 'things will go well.'"

Tomo's eyes filled with tears, his obvious unhappiness spilling down his cheeks.

"You have a wish, right?" Yuko asked softly, seductively. Tomo nodded, ever so slightly. "I require payment for my help." Tomo nodded again. Yuko's hand came up to the boy's cheeks, softly touching the tears staining his face. _"Very well. May your wish be fulfilled. What is it that your heart desires? Tell me."_

_"__I want to change!" _Tomo breathed, his aura changing from a cold blue to a bright gold, the invisible webs and chains surrounding him sparkling and breaking.

The next day, Watanuki and Doumeki found themselves back at the Rira Caffe, waiting for the older twin to show up. Watanuki was antsy, her feet tapping on the ground as she sat next to Doumeki and she couldn't stop looking around, until the boy walked in.

"Sorry for making you wait." Tomo said as he walked up. Both teens turned around at his voice and Watanuki gasped at the change that had happened to the boy. He was smiling again like he was at the park, but all of his wavy hair was gone. His short cropped hair was vastly different from the curtain of locks he used to hide behind.

"You cut your hair!" The girl stated in surprise. Tomo placed a bag in front of Watanuki that had his hair in there for Yuko.

"It's my payment for Yuko's assistance. It's not much, but I hope it's enough." Tomo sat down and looked at the pair. "Why the sad faces?" (It was mostly Watanuki's face he was talking about because Doumeki looked the same as ever).

"Your hair…" Watanuki started.

"Trading my hair for a new life sounds like a bargain to me." He smiled brightly. "Besides, since I've cut my hair I've noticed all kinds of changes. Look at my hands!" The boy held up his fingers. There were fewer bandages on it than there were before. "I've still got a ways to go but it looks like my scars are healing up nicely. It's great! Who knew that trying something different could make such changes?"

The conversation paused, and Watanuki smiled, finally able to see just how much Tomo had changed.

"That being said, I have something to say." He turned serious, staring right into Doumeki's eyes. "Doumeki, I thought you should know that I like you." Tomo blushed slightly at the confession. There was silence for a moment as Watanuki stewed in her seat, waiting for Doumeki's answer, her suspicions about Tomo liking Doumeki right, for once.

"Thank you, but I'm not you're type." Doumeki bowed as he rejected Tomoyoshi's confession and Watanuki was and wasn't surprised at the same time.

"I figured as much." Tomo smiled, seemingly completely aware that Doumeki was not into guys like _that. _Emiko walked up behind her brother, in her work uniform and holding a tray of drinks.

"I guess we both got shot down." The girl twin smiled and sighed at the same time.

"But I'm glad I told him." Tomo replied.

"It's true. Giving it up as lost before saying anything is no good." Emiko agreed. "I've reflected on that." They both laughed. "'Kay, onto the next part."

"The next part?" Watanuki asked.

"Yep!" Both twins said as Emiko walked away to help some customers.

"We were hoping that we could continue our tradition of going and getting cake together." Tomo explained. "Just four friends hanging out.

"As long as the cake's good." Doumeki answered.

"Great then! I'll go get us some tea." Tomo got up but then stopped, turning back to the pair. _"Thank you."_

A bright ripple washed over Watanuki and even though she was the only one who could see it, she was sure Doumeki could feel it too.

"And to think," Watanuki said as they walked away from the restaurant a little while later, "If you had convinced me that there was nothing I could do to help, then that's one thank you we would have never been able to hear."

"What?" Doumeki asked.

"Tell you what," Watanuki said, slinging her hands behind her head as she walked. "Tell me what you want for lunch tomorrow. The sky's the limit. What's it going to be?"

"Star fruit." Came the answer.

"What?! I'm giving you a choice and that's the best you can come up with?!" Watanuki said, outranged that Doumeki didn't ask for anything really hard like he usually did. When she accomplished those difficult dishes, it was like she could throw it back in his face that she could do something way better than him. "Fruit?! That's not a real meal!" She huffed, and folded her arms.

"Fine. Tessa then." Doumeki conceded, choosing one of the hardest things he knew.

"Ug! Are you crazy?! Do you have any idea how hard it is to prepare tessa without killing someone?! It's almost impossible!"

"Then, make up for it with tecchiri." (5) A familiar, silky voice floated toward the pair from behind. Watanuki and Doumeki both turned toward the source, finding Yuko standing in the middle of the street in a purple, ruffled shirt and a long, brown skirt. "I like mine with a soft roe."

"Soft roe!" Mokona repeated, jumping out on Yuko's shoulder.

"Why would you want a hot stew in the summer time?" Watanuki inquired, stomping up to the witch.

"Delicious food transcends stereotypes." Yuko replied haughtily. Doumeki walked up behind Watanuki and nodded his agreement, folding his arms in the process.

"I was thinking along the lines of a light lunch! You're asking too much of me!" Watanuki snarled. Doumeki had the perfect comeback.

"Say to yourself, 'I'm positive things will go well.'"

"Don't throw my words back at me!" The girl yelled right in his face, shaking an angry fist at the archer. "I know what you're trying to do and it's not going to work!" Doumeki just plugged his ears in response.

"By the way," Watanuki started, turning back to Yuko, "Pardon me for saying, but I couldn't help but notice that you're not eating at home much lately. Is that because you've been trying different restaurants?"

"Oh, what could you be talking about?" Yuko asked.

"If you keep eating out like that, it'll catch up with your waistline!" The seer teased. Yuko's eyebrow cocked menacingly and she smiled like the Cheshire cat. Mokona 'oooed' in anticipation of what was to come.

"Watanuki, I'm glad you've taken an interest in my culinary habits." Watanuki blanched at her tone, knowing she had just said the exact wrong thing. "From now on, you can prepare all of my meals, healthy selections of course." Watanuki's face went paler than it usually was as she realized just what she had done. "I guess you'll practically live in the kitchen, won't you?" Yuko was still smiling, her mouth still spouting out evil words.

"I'm sorry, Yuko!" Watanuki tried to apologize before things got even worse. She looked to Doumeki for help, but he just looked away, leaving her stranded between a witch and a hard place because Mokona turned away from the girl too.

"I'm so proud of you for shouldering such a _huge_ responsibility." All Watanuki could do was smile awkwardly as she landed herself in the deepest shit ever. "Don't be shy with your menu ideas, people!" Yuko pumped a fist in the air as she strode past the quailing girl.

"Soft roe!" Mokona shouted.

"Fugu." Doumeki added, walking away as well.

"Tecchri!" Yuko cheered.

"Fish eggs!" Mokona seconded.

"Star fruit." Doumeki added again.

"Tecchri!"

"Fish eggs!'

"Star fruit."

Watanuki's face twitched in horror.

"Fuck!"

To be continued…

Note 1: Emiko means smiling child. Tomoyoshi means quiet twin, combining Tomo (twin) and Yoshi (silent or quiet). I fused the two together but there are actually people names Tomoyoshi, including Tomoyoshi Miyazaki (I had to look people up with the name Tomoyoshi and he popped up first) who worked on games such as ActRaiser for the Super Nintendo, Inuyasha: The Secret of the Cursed Mask and the Ys games.

Note 2: Dango is a Japanese sweet dumpling made of mochiko (rice flour). It's eaten all year long, but certain seasons have certain flavors. Three or four dango are usually served on a skewer and if you've seen Clannad you know how cute they can be when you give them faces! :3

Note 3: Karuta cards descend from either Portuguese playing cards or Eawase, which was first played with oyster shells as a matching game. The game that Maru and Moro are playing is from the Eawase – a popular pastime for nobles in the Kamakura Period. Eawase games consisted of participants being divided into two teams and then each player would create paintings or poetry on a predetermined topic which were then judged by their peers. The simpler version of this game was to matching pre-painted images, like Maru and Moro's game where Mokona is describing cards and the twins are trying to find the card that matches the description.

Note 4: A kyousoku is a Japanese separated arm rest that can accompy a zabuton (a commonly used cusion for sitting on the floor) and a zaisu (a legless chair). When all three are used together, the resulting piece of furniture looks like a legless Western chair with only one armrest.

Note 5: Tessa is a fugu (pufferfish) sashimi dish and tecchiri is a boiled fugu dish.

A/N: There you go! See you all next time! :3


	10. The Reunion and The Unhappiness

A/N: ZareEraz here! I know, I know! It's been, like, _forever_ since I last updated this story but now I have plenty of time to write because I'm off of school...so hooray! On another note...I had such a hard time writing this chapter because there is almost no Watanuki/Doumeki interactions so I hope you're not too disappointed in the lack of Doumeki goodness in this chapter because the next one's _all_ Watanuki/Doumeki! I hope you enjoy this chapter! :3

P.S. I totally forgot to mention the last couple chapters that my best friend, HeartQueenVivaldi has been helping me edit my chapters so shout out to her and if you like Ouran High School Host Club, you should check out her fic! Luvs Queenie! :3

Chapter Nine: The Reunion and The Unhappiness

The day found Watanuki in Yuko's kitchen preparing a meal for the extravagant witch fit for a king. And surprisingly enough, Watanuki was not in a horrible mood while cooking said meal. In fact, she was pretty cheerful for no particular reason. The girl hummed as she washed the rice and carefully poured out the water so she could form rice balls when her good mood vanished. And it just so happened that it vanished when two huge, heavy paws slammed into the girl's back and sent her bowl tumbling into the sink, the rice splattering everywhere as the big pipe fox glommed onto her shoulders and back. The pipe fox mewed, rubbing his head on the girl's shoulders as she growled and pried herself off of the counter.

"Stop it!" Watanuki sighed at the huge pipe fox. "Lay over there quietly, will you?" The fox whined. "Look what you did! There's rice everywhere. I should make you clean it up." The pipe fox whined again, rubbing its head against the girl's back. The seer sighed and washed the rice down the sink. She shrugged the fox off of her back and pointed over to the corner of the room. The pipe fox whined for the millionth time that day and went to go stand out of the way.

A little while later when Watanuki was dusting out the storehouse, the pipe fox followed her in there and stared flailing around and nearly broke several of Yuko's vases and boxes. Watanuki had to run around the room catching all the falling objects before they shattered on the ground and then put them back with a lot of grumbling and _then _had to reprimand the pipe fox for making the mess in the first place. By the time she got back to whacking her duster on everything she was irritated all over again.

"Sit still and behave, will ya? If you do that a little while longer I'll give you a treat later." The fox was pleased by this deal and started tapping two of its many tails on the ground in agreement, mirroring Watanuki's whacking with her duster. He whined in pleasure and tapped its tails again. Tossing his head, the fox kept rapping its tails on the floor, creating a cloud of dust that was quickly filling up the storeroom. Watanuki coughed twice and then stopped what she was doing to glare at the beast. Just as she was glaring, one of the tails smacked a round, gray vase and knocked it off the shelf just like before. Watanuki leapt into action, sliding on the ground on her belly and just barely catching the vase in both hands before it shattered on the floor. She sighed in relief. "That was a close one."

The pipe fox just rubbed his huge head on her back in response, giving her love.

Watanuki's next chore was also interrupted by the pestering creature and now it was getting to the point where Watanuki went from irritated to full on wrathful. She was sitting outside washing Yuko's clothes in a big wooden bucket and the pipe fox just _had _to sit behind her, his paws and head on her shoulders, flipping from one side to the other as he barked and whined.

"Would you please…can't you just go for a walk or something?" Watanuki sighed. The fox just gave a little howl that probably meant "no." Watanuki's head dropped in disappointment and she ground her teeth together in frustration. The pipe fox snuggled in closer. Watanuki's teeth ground harder. The pipe fox snuggled closer…and the girl went ballistic.

"Look at him!" She shrieked, her handkerchiefed head snapping towards Yuko (who was enjoying her afternoon by drinking and watching Watanuki struggle). She and her little court were sitting next to a huge sake bottle, all of them just sitting there all prim and proper. Maru and Moro both were still wearing the summer versions of their devil and angel outfits, Yuko was in a green kimono with white lilies embroidered on the fabric paired with a yellow obi and Mokona was naked for all intents and purposes (or at least the creature had its fur on).

"Hmm?" The witch replied, holding her sake cup daintily.

"I can't take this! Is he going to be this size forever?!" Watanuki shot back.

"Aw, I think it's adorable." Yuko answered. "I just think he wants to show you how much he loves you, right girls?" She turned towards Maru and Moro.

"Aw! Cute! So cute!" They chorused, clasping their hands together and wiggling from side to side.

Yeah he's precious and I'm happy that he likes me," Watanuki started, but he was interrupted by the pipe fox with a whine. "But look at him!" That was the moment the pipe fox decided that it would be a good idea to climb onto Watanuki, sitting his butt on the girl's back and forcing her down with its weight. "He's too-ug-dependent and he-ow-won't leave me alone-ouch-for five-ug-seconds! How am I supposed to do laundry?!" Watanuki stood up with a burst of strength and threw the suffocating pipe fox off of her back and whirled on it, pointing at the creature. "SIT!"

The fox just mewled at her.

"See? He doesn't even listen to me." She grumbled. Suddenly a noise startled the girl. It was a rock hitting her washing tub and she whirled around to see who threw it. She couldn't see anyone. The pipe fox just rubbed his head on her arm. "Awww…all I want is just a few minutes of peace and quiet!" The girl slumped down into her seat to start washing again. Yuko just looked out in the direction from where the rock came from, not saying a word. Watanuki began scrubbing again and the pipe fox took up his position on her back, his long fingered paws wrapping around her shoulders and his head rubbing her shoulders. "Just stop it."

Another rock thumped against the wash tub and Watanuki snapped up. She thought she saw someone hiding behind the corner of the house. "Who's there?" Unsurprisingly, she didn't get an answer. So, the seer decided to check it out and walked around the side of the shop, holding onto her trusty broom in case it was a creeper. Unsurprisingly, the pipe fox tagged along. On her back.

"Ug, these piggy back rides were a lot easier when you were your normal size." The pipe fox just hung on in response, tightening his grip on the girl's shoulders and hips, his tails dragging in the dirt. Another pebble plunked on the ground, drawing the girl's attention to the well behind the shop. On the well's edge there was a package wrapped up in paper and string. Watanuki took a few heavy steps forward and looked at the parcel. "What is that?" Watanuki set her broom aside and picked up the package. She and the pipe fox both cocked their heads and wondered what it could be. As the girl picked it up, a single blue fire fly drifted up into the air. Both the girl and the fox watched it float away and disappear.

"Was that…was that a fire fly?" Watanuki asked. She looked down at the package and watched as four more fire flies drifted up from her hand. "More? In this season?" _Zashiki-warishi..? _Suddenly, the pipe fox leapt off of Watanuki's back and sailed behind her to land on the ground, sitting properly with his tails wagging in anticipation. Watanuki watched the tails for just a moment as their movements became even happier and then looked at the parcel in her hand and pulled the string, opening it. Inside lay seven strips of fried tofu. "It's fried tofu. But who is it from?" The girl asked, holding up a piece of tofu. Her intuition was right that the pipe fox wanted what was in it turned out the be true when the creature jumped to his feet and snagged the food right out of her hand, startling her. The fox walked a little ways off and then goggled the tofu in one gulp before lying down.

"Huh? Since when do foxes eat fried tofu?" Watanuki asked the pipe fox. He just whined at her again. She looked at the tofu in surprise. It actually made the pipe fox behave for once. But as she was marveling at the snack's ability to calm the fox, she didn't notice that one of the pipe fox's forehead markings had disappeared.

The rest of the evening went swimmingly at Yuko's shop because the pipe fox just calmly sat next to Watanuki as she completed her tasks for the day. There was no whining, no shoving, no asphyxiating, no jumping and no squishing and it was just perfect. The girl left the shop with only a little trouble when the pipe fox wanted her to stay and did end up finally tackling her to the ground in a last ditch effort to stop her from going. Watanuki just shoved the fox off with all the strength and ran out the door as fast as she could, promising to play with him the next day. After school the next day, Watanuki was in a really good mood, walking along after school with Wari and the fact that Doumeki was there too only ticked her off a little bit.

"I'm getting hungry; do you guys want to stop for a snack?" Wari asked after a little while.

"Of course!" Watanuki instantly agreed, blushing and smiling at her crush. "What do you feel like?"

"I'm really craving chocolate crepes. That sounds wonderful!" She flipped her head to glare at Doumeki who was walking on the other side of her and growled. _Why does this creep always have to come with us?! _

"Wow. Those look nice." Wari had stopped to look in a shop window when Watanuki wasn't paying attention and the girl had to scramble backwards to get back to him.

"What is it, Wari?" The girl sang, blushing again. "Hm?" The seer looked at the window, staring into a display of necklaces and hair accessories. _I didn't know Wari was into this stuff…should I be worried? _Watanuki gave the cute boy a once over out of the corner of her eyes and wondered if that's why he acted so feminine sometimes.

"I'm going to go look inside, okay? One of my cousin's birthdays is coming up soon and I want to see if I can find her something nice. Wari walked away from the display and into the store. Watanuki looked up at the store's sign, KELLA, and considered following the boy. It's not like she was into really girly stuff like jewelry and accessories (and the fact that spirits tended to hide in pretty things or old antique jewelry had quite a bit to do with it), but it might be nice to take a look around inside.

"It's a jewelry store. I guess this is the kind of things girls are supposed to like." Watanuki thunked her forehead onto the window and kept staring at the necklaces.

"Is this the kind of stuff you like too? Come on you can tell me." Doumeki was half teasing, mostly because Watanuki wasn't a girly girl to begin with, but it would be cute if she had a bit of a girly side.

"No way! I'm not that girly!" The seer denied, waving her hand in the air. But, despite her denial, Watanuki and Doumeki both ended up in the shop with Wari. After looking around for a minute, Wari walked up to the counter with a pair of hair elastics, adorned with pink flowers.

"I'll take this." He said, holding out the package to the clerk.

"Is this for a girlfriend?" The clerk asked nicely.

"Nope!" Wari smiled. "My cousin. Her birthday is coming soon."

"How sweet! Would you like this wrapped up?"

"Yes, please. Can I get a pink ribbon to match the flowers?" Wari asked politely.

"Of course!" The clerk wrapped up the pins and gave it back to the teenage boy.

"Oooo." Watanuki admired the gift and then turned back to her own browsing. She walked past a display of hair pins and started looking at all the different types. _So this is what girls want. It's so silly, and yet, interesting at the same time. _Watanuki had never had experiences of receiving or shopping for stuff like this, since her parents died when she was young, she never had someone to dote on her and everything she bought was so that she could live on her own, not so she could be frivolous. It never crossed her mind that she could buy this stuff for herself. The seer scanned the pins to see if there was something she liked when her eyes fell on a set of pins with white wings at the top. They would be the perfect gift for a certain sprite. To repay her for the tofu she left at the well. Watanuki's hand came up to pick the pins when a certain voice startled her.

"Are those for you?" Doumeki asked. Watanuki's hand slapped down on her leg as she turned around blushing in embarrassment.

"NO!" She flapped her hand in the air again. But in the end, she purchased the wing pins and had them gift wrapped, placing them carefully in her skirt pocket so she'd have them with her the next time she saw Zashiki-Warishi. Little did she know that after she'd walked out of the shop, Doumeki made a purchase of his own before he joined them again.

After the little shopping trip, Watanuki walked to Yuko's shop to do her work. Unfortunately, as she walked through the gate, the pipe fox (who had been sitting patiently on the porch for her to show up) ran up and pounced on the shrieking girl.

"No! No! No! N-n-n-n-ooooo!" The girl collapsed to the ground as the fox's weight pushed her down. She crawled into the shop with the fox on her back and finally got fed up and yelled at the pushy creature so she could at least make it to the kitchen and put on her apron.

"Alright!" Watanuki threw on her apron and tied her head-kerchief on tightly, opening Yuko's cupboards. "Maybe tonight I'll make some Miso soup and poooorrrrkkk-!" Watanuki's last word was dragged out as the pipe fox pounced on her again, throwing her upper body into the cupboard at he clung to her. "C-cut it out, will you?!" The girl wheeled on the beast and gave it her best pissed-off face. "If you don't behave I'm going to use your fried tofu in the Miso soup along with the pork, do you understand? Do you?" The girl held up the parcel of tofu up threateningly. The pipe fox sat down obediently, as if he knew exactly what she was saying.

"Good fox!" The seer smiled and unwrapped the tofu, throwing a piece to the pipe fox. He gobbled it up and licked his chops in satisfaction. "You're actually behaving! You must really like that stuff a lot!" Watanuki walked over to the beast and used to apron to wipe off his dirty snout, smiling happily. "Hold still for a second, you've gotten some of it on your face."

The pipe fox mewled and then lay down, content for the moment. "I guess I've finally found something that will calm you down for a little while. Right! Now I can get my chores done." Watanuki rolled up her sleeves up and got ready to work.

"You really should be careful how much of that stuff you give him." Yuko's voice startled Watanuki as the girl turned around.

"Huh?" The girl asked, looking at Yuko's extravagant outfit today as she leaned against the door with her arms folded. Yuko was wearing hip hugging, black pants with a low, bodice-like top in teal and black, the black lacy part barely covering her breasts. She had black armbands around her biceps and the teal collar extended up to her ears. To top off the look, the witch had a length of purple cloth thrown over both her arms and behind her back like a boa, she wore three separate gold earrings on each ear and her hair was twisted into two loops on the side of her head. Mokona was hanging off of her shoulder like it always did.

"I mean the fried tofu." The girl looked at the parcel and then hid it behind her back guiltily. "It is by far the pipe foxes favorite food, but it really isn't good for them. It's like their version of junk food. If they eat too much of it, the effects can be quite serious." As she was speaking, Yuko walked into the kitchen and knelt next to the fox, placing her hand under his chin and turning his head towards her. Mokona hopped off her shoulder and onto the table as she studied the fox. "Yes, he's already had too much."

"What? What's wrong?" Watanuki asked, taking a step closer.

"Look. The markings on his face have begun to disappear." Watanuki looked and saw that out of the seven markings on the pipe fox's forehead, two were missing: the far right marking and the middle left marking.

"And what happens if they all vanish like that?" Watanuki asked, not understanding why Yuko might be concerned about this.

"His power will fade and he'll never return to normal." Yuko said flippantly. Watanuki's eyes widened in horror at the realization that if the pipe fox lost his power, he'd be huge forever and would never stop giving her trouble!

"You mean…he'll stay this size?!"

"That's right. And you'll be carrying him around forever." Yuko sounded smug, like she'd want to see her little slave have to deal with the big version of the pipe fox her whole life.

"FOREVER?! Is there anything I can do to make him normal again?! Anything! Please tell me there is! Whatever it is, I'll do it!" Watanuki freaked out, waving her hands in the air as she panicked and talked at the speed of light.

"Restoring a pipe fox to its original size is a difficult procedure." Yuko mused, cupping her chin with her pointer finger and thumb. "To be effective, the process requires a huge amount of pure energy."

"Well, alright. Can't we just go to Doumeki's? He lives in a temple doesn't he? That's got to count for something. Even Ame-Warishi said he was pure…even though I don't like having to call on that ass again." The girl grumbled. But if she had to choose between a huge pipe fox and imposing herself upon Doumeki, she'd pick Doumeki, that's how grim the situation was.

"Yes, the energy that Doumeki possesses is exceedingly rare, but this is likely beyond him." Watanuki shoulders dropped in disappointment. "The sheer volume of energy he'd need to release…I'm guessing he'd pass out long before the job was actually completed."

"Ug." Watanuki's shoulders dropped even more.

"It's your choice." Yuko's hand came up to her mouth teasingly. "We can certainly ask him to give it a shot." The witch knew that Watanuki's hated relying on Doumeki no matter the circumstance so this was extremely funny to begin with and she just made it more fun by poking at the girl's ego.

"Nu uh! Let's not!" Watanuki shook her head sharply. "I owe him too much already without adding this on too." She frowned and rolled her eyes, trying not to think of how much she really owed Doumeki.

"Alright then, we'll just have to think of something else." Yuko concluded. "Hmm. Where else could we find a place with enough energy to transfigure a pipe fox?"

"Hey! Yuko!" Mokona called, waving its little paws. The witch smiled at her companion and picked up the fur ball, following its pointing little paws out of the kitchen, through several halls until it led the pair into the storehouse, the pipe fox following behind. Mokona leapt out of Yuko's hands once she'd reached a dark corner of the warehouse and landed on a white vase with blue butterflies, clouds and flowers detailed on it.

"There's an idea! This will serve out needs perfectly!" Yuko smiled. Mokona hummed in triumph. Yuko turned to Watanuki. "Plus…it may help us kill two birds with one stone."

"Huh?" Both Watanuki and the pipe fox cocked their heads in confusion.

"Mokona, you're perfect. Good thinking!" Yuko picked up the fur ball and started rubbing her face against it.

"Mokona helped!" It crooned. The pipe fox started imitating Yuko by rubbing his head against Watanuki, and the girl just folded her arms and watched Yuko being really weird with Mokona.

"Now let's get this plan started!" Yuko shouted.

Yuko called for Maru and Moro to bring her a tall end table that she had in one of the many rooms of the shop and Yuko herself picked up the vase to carry it out into the yard. The twins came running with the table and Yuko placed the vase on it and had them move the whole thing out into the yard. She stood on the porch and watched as they moved the table, holding Mokona in her hands again.

"Good. Now set it down there." She instructed.

"Okay!" The twin chorused, setting down the table and walking away from it.

"Yuko, we brought the water from the well, just like you asked." Watanuki walked up from behind the shop with the pipe fox (who was balancing a basin of water on his head perfectly as he walked). The witch walked up to the vase.

"Excellent. Thank you." She peered into the vase, making sure everything was ready.

"So…what are you going to do with it?" Watanuki asked.

"We're going to use it." The woman said it like a "duh!" statement.

"What's with the vase?" The seer asked.

"It's quite unique. I took it from its previous location at the request of a client."

"From where?" Watanuki asked, suspicious of Yuko's motives for having the vase.

"Oh, I just borrowed it for a bit." She paused, looking up at the moon. "It's from a shrine."

"YEAH RIGHT! You stole it from them, didn't you?!" Watanuki pointed and accusing finger at her boss.

"I left them proper compensation for it, right?" Yuko asked Mokona.

"Right!" The pork bun agreed.

"That's really sneaky! Even for you!" Watanuki waved her hand back and forth and refuse to look at the thief.

"Let's just forget about my little transgression. We have work to do. Quickly now! Put the water from the well into the vase." Watanuki slunk to the vase.

"So what's so special about this vase?" She asked, looking at the daffodil design again.

"Hurry up please. We're running out of time." Watanuki looked up at Yuko who was looking up at the full moon and then looked up at the full moon herself, still confused.

"Okay, I'll get the water. Just give me a second." The girl fetched the water from the pipe fox's head and poured it into the vase. Next, Yuko took out some crystals and dropped a handful into the water. The crystals plinked and pluked into the vase one by one until her hand was empty.

"What's that you're putting in?" Watanuki asked.

"They're crystals. I'm adding them in to purify the well water. Now, if you're ready, come here and look into the vase."

"Oh, okay." Watanuki looked into the vase, seeing the crystals sparkle and noticing that the full moon was directly in the center of its reflection in the vase. The pipe fox did the same, the girl and beast standing opposite of each other as they gazed into the water. Nothing happened for a moment, and then suddenly, the water lit up, sparkling off the crystals and bathing the girl in white light. The water's surface seemed to be growing larger with each passing second, the moon expanding until it completely filled Watanuki's vision. Suddenly, Watanuki felt herself falling and screamed. A huge plunk sounded in the vase and a jet of water rose out of it and flew into the air. The girl and the fox were no longer standing outside the vase.

"Success!" Yuko clapped her hands while Mokona laughed. "Well, Watanuki is going to be busy for a while, we may as well eat. What do you think?" She asked Mokona.

"I think its time to chow!" Mokona replied, its little body shaking with excitement.

"I agree completely." Yuko walked away from the vase and let what would happen, happen.

Inside the vase, Watanuki and the pipe fox were falling down through a world of white water and shining crystals. She could hear Yuko's cry of delight and growled, "YUKO!" with her mouth full of water, flipping herself around in her fall and swimming towards whatever up had become. The pipe fox wasn't far behind her and after a few moments of swimming, they burst out of a small pond. Watanuki was on her hands and knees, coughing up water and nearly retching.

"What did you do, Yuko?!" Watanuki panted. "Are you trying to drown us?" The girl looked behind her, expecting to see the shop and got a surprise when a huge daffodil rose up behind her instead. And when she said huge, she meant _huge_. The flower was several meters tall and standing in by several ponds, yellow and green grasses sprouting up around the water as well. Butterflies flitted in the air and all Watanuki could see in the distance were more trees and grass and ponds.

"Oh, geez…where are we?" The girl was dumbstruck, her mouth speaking without her really knowing it. The pipe fox shook out his fur, dislodging all the water trapped in his coat. Watanuki had a several minute break down as she tried to figure out where the hell they were, running up and down a little stream (which dried her out from her little swim somewhat) screaming like a mad woman before she finally calmed down. Sitting next to the pipe fox on the bank of the pond that they'd popped out of, Watanuki stared at the daffodils as she tried to muddle things out. "How did we end up in this place? I've never seen anything like this before. It figures that Yuko would send us someplace strange. The vase just sucked us in. I guess if this is what's at the bottom of it I can see why it's so unique."

A breeze picked up, ruffling the girl's pony tail and the pipe fox's fur, sending the flowers around them into an impromptu dance as they waved back and forth.

"Well, the breeze feels nice and these daffodils smell wonderful. I don't know where we ended up, but at least the environment is nice, you know?" She said to the fox, looking at her companion sitting quietly next to her. A moment later and he was glowing with a strange golden light that grew brighter with each passing second until the girl couldn't see anything. And then, an instant later, the light popped and vanished, fading away to reveal a little pipe fox floating in the air, looking at her. She gaped. "You're back to normal size!" She exclaimed. The pipe fox leaned forward and sweetly kissed the girl's nose in response. And suddenly it all clicked.

"That must be why we're here. This must be the place that Yuko was talking about…pure energy…or whatever. "Watanuki folded her arms as the pipe fox took his usual perch, wrapping himself around her neck. The pipe fox kissed her cheek this time and squeezed her a little tighter. "We did what we were sent here to do…" Watanuki trailed off for a second, before having a full blown panic attack. "But how the HELL are we EVER supposed to get OUT of HERE?!" She screamed, her voice echoing back at her with the same amount of angst and worry.

Giggles sounded from behind the girl, echoing after her scream.

"It's a child!" One voice said.

"It's a child!" Another repeated.

"And a loud one too!"

"She certainly is!" Watanuki glanced around looking for the voices, but she couldn't see anybody.

"She hasn't even noticed us yet."

"Not the brightest girl, is she?" One voice commented.

"Not at all." Another agreed. Watanuki's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion and then she leaned down towards the daffodils, thinking to herself that it was silly, thinking that she thought the flowers were talking like some _Alice in Wonderland_ bullshit. She stared at the daffodil and cocked an eyebrow.

"Really? The flowers?" She asked, poking one with her finger. Instantly the flower grew to an enormous size, the surprise throwing the girl back in shock.

"AHHHH!" She screamed.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" The flower yelled, looming over the girl as she fell back on her butt. The flower shrunk again and swiveled towards her companions.

"How rude." They all said at once, turning towards each other. "Very."

"T-t-the flowers?!" Watanuki stuttered. "They talk!" The flowers turned towards her, their petals held in such a way that they seemed to be mocking the girl. Trying to save face, Watanuki's mouth ran away with her. "Well, it'll take more than that to scare me off!" She laughed to emphasize her point.

"Are you sure? You looked pretty frightened to us." The flowers pointed out. Watanuki scrambled over to the three daffodils on her hands and knees.

"Well, that's only because you suddenly decided to grow ten feet tall!" Watanuki pouted, leaning into the flowers…faces. They laughed at her, mocking the girl's bravado. Watanuki took another look around the strange place. "Where are we anyway? Can any of you tell me how to get back to where I came from?"

"You can go back when your business here is finished." They replied.

"When it's finished." One of them repeated.

"But it is finished," Watanuki argued, sitting back on her heels and pointing to the pipe fox. "This guy is back to travel size again. The flowers started dancing, waving their petals and leaves back and forth as they giggled.

"But you're not done yet!"

"There's more."

"Go finish what you started." Suddenly, nine of the daffodils grew to their full size, looming over Watanuki menacingly and started waving their heads again.

"HURRY UP! GO NOW!" They shouted in one voice, freaking out Watanuki as she scrambled to her feet and started running away screaming. This display disproved her claim to not being easily scared off, but she really didn't give a shit when flowers were lecturing her.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THIS PLACE?!" She screamed, running full tilt in the opposite direction of the flowers. They just watched her go, shrinking back to their normal size when the girl had disappeared.

Watanuki kept running for a very long time, distancing herself from the daffodil field as much as possible.. When the seer finally stopped running, she leaned over on her knees to catch her breath, panting heavily.

"Alright!" She admitted, gasping for air. "I was scared by a bunch of daffodils! But you have to admit that one doesn't usually expect flowers to talk! Or to grow at will for that matter!" Watanuki finally calmed down enough to take a look around where she was. She was standing in a small clearing in the midst of the forest she'd run into, the trees a little gnarled but they all still had their leaves so they weren't too scary. After growing daffodils she didn't know what to expect, dancing trees maybe? The sun had disappeared somehow, even though she'd been running, maybe, ten or fifteen minutes and now it looked like evening had fallen, bringing with it a deep purple dusk. "The scenery seems to have changed somehow," she commented to the pipe fox. "What's going on?"

Watanuki looked up, seeing the moon enclosed by the ring of trees in the clearing. So was it really night like back at the shop? Or what this some sort of supernatural phenomenon? The pipe fox unwound itself from the seer's neck a little bit, twisting around so he could see Watanuki's face.

"The flowers said I had something else to take care of…but you've already gone back to your normal size." Watanuki reached out and scratched the creature's neck with her pointer finger. The pipe fox, to show his appreciation of the scratch, snaked up into Watanuki's sleeve and started rubbing himself all over the girl's body. She twisted and gasped and squirmed, trying to catch the slippery rascal when he skated across her torso. Then he was down by her butt, wriggling under her panties and then out and around back into her shirt and up her back. The girl tried to grab the fox, but he was too quick for her and kept dodging her hands. The only thing that stopped Watanuki from tearing her shirt off to get at him was the appearance of a blue firefly, floating just past her face. The girl forgot all about the fox and put her arms down, watching the little bug drift away. A breeze picked up, blowing the firefly higher into the air, its light disappearing when it passed over the moon. The pipe fox slid out of her shirt collar to see why Watanuki had stopped playing their game, looking at the firefly for a moment before diving into Watanuki's shirt again, taking up his usual place in the spot right between her breasts, poking his head out to watch curiously. Watanuki heard someone playing a flute, the soft notes drifting to her ears from somewhere nearby.

"Where's that music coming from?" She wondered aloud. The seer wandered towards the sound, following the melody of the flute through the forest until she emerged from the bushes to find a beautiful pond. The flute music was coming from there too, the notes drifting from Zashiki-Warishi's lips. The sprite was sitting on an odd-shaped boulder (it looked like a tiny cliff or a rocky tree branch) her sandals dangling over the edge, her fireflies dancing around her slowly. She was even more beautiful than the first time Watanuki had seen her, wearing a pink kimono with tsubaki flowers embroidered on the sleeves and at the end of the robe. She paired her robes with a black and white checked obi, the long fabric extending far past what people normally wore. In her hair she wore a cluster of sakura blossoms with three strands dangling down from the main cluster, mingling with her short, blue hair. Watanuki shifted her weight, breaking a twig underneath her foot. The snap caused the sprite to look up from her flute, taking the instrument away from her lips and looking to see who was watching her. Her brown eyes widened at the sight of Watanuki.

"Its you!" Watanuki called, taking a step forwards. "Zashiki-Warishi!"

The sprite burst into a blush, the sudden heat to her face making a steam cloud that rose above her head. She waved her arms around for a moment before covering her face with her hands. And then she slipped, falling into the water two feet below her. Watanuki ran up to the sprite, her shoes splashing in the pond and then kneeled down next to the other girl, the cool water soaking her shoes, socks and splashing up her legs to lick at the hem of her skirt.

"Are you alright?" Watanuki asked.

"Yes!" Zashiki-Warishi answered breathlessly. Watanuki picked up the sprite's kimono sleeve, feeling the fabric being weighed down by water.

"I'm sorry, you're kimono is soaking wet."

"Oh no! It's fine!" The girl's head shot up, her wet hair clinging to her cheeks. "Why are you on this mountain?" Watanuki looked around again, confused, but all she saw was forest.

"This place…is a mountain?" The seer asked.

"Huh?" Zashiki-Warishi replied.

"Huh?" Watanuki said back. They'd just confused each other…which seemed to be normal at this point considering the mess they'd gotten into last time Watanuki had seen the sprite. Deciding that sitting in the pond soaking wet was not a good idea, Watanuki helped Zashiki-Warishi up and they walked over to a boulder a stone's throw away and sat down to dry off. As the fireflies floated around them, Watanuki explained to the sprite how she got on the supposed mountain by falling through a strange vase.

"You arrived here through something that is called a Kochuuten." Zashiki-Warishi explained.

"A Kochuuten?" Watanuki repeated, the word new to her. "What's that?"

"It's a special kind of vase that acts as a doorway to other worlds." The sprite folded her hands nervously. "If you came here through a field of flowers then that means you must've used the daffodil vase." She paused. "Well…they aren't really daffodils, they're nymphs, but they take the form of flowers in that world." The pipe fox unwound itself from the girl's shirt a little bit and reached up to kiss her cheek a few times.

"I don't completely understand all of this. So are you saying that this mountain that we're on is somehow part of the Kochuuten?" Watanuki asked.

"No, this mountain is the world for which the vase acts as a doorway." The seer turned to lookat the sprite. "This is where we live. A place called Reizan, or Spirit Mountain."

"Oh, I get it!" Watanuki smiled, and then it dropped off her face when another question popped up. "But how did I end up in that field after I fell through the vase?"

"The field was a part of the vase, but its energy is strong enough that it links to other places with similar energy, roads made from the energy itself. Daffodils bloom on this mountain so it's easy for the vase to lead someone here."

"Oh." Watanuki mostly got it now, and another piece of information just clicked into place. Yuko probably had wanted to send her here for some reason, reverting the pipe fox and to probably meet Zashiki-Warishi. _So is that what Yuko meant by killing two birds with one stone? _

"I'm so sorry about last time." Zashiki-Warishi grabbed the girl attention again. "It was a mistake and I feel terrible." The sprite blushed. Watanuki recalled that she had stolen Doumeki's soul and the ohagi that he'd eaten, putting Doumeki's life in danger so Watanuki had to get it back for him. As it turns out, Zashiki-Warishi had meant for the ohagi to be for Watanuki in the first place, messing up the meaning of the Obon festival. And that's when Watanuki found out that the sprite had a (possible) crush on her. Which was odd, but nice anyway. "I really hope that he recovered." The sprite said, referring to Doumeki.

"Don't worry about him, he's doing just fine." Watanuki smiled. _Yeah, fine enough to tick me off and cause trouble and eat me out of house and home! _

"Oh, that's good!" The sprite clapped her hands together softly, like she was praying. "I was worried this whole time, and I was thoroughly scolded for it." She blushed even redder.

"By Ame-Warishi? You two seem to get along well."

"Yes, even though I always seem to be causing her trouble." The girl's hands came down and folded lightly in her lap again. Her head shot up again after a moment of silence. "Why are you here? Is there something I can help you with?"

"Um…well…" Watanuki didn't know how to say that she'd already done what she came here to do…reverting the pipe fox and all…but the sprite seemed so eager to help her that she hated letting her down…

"Anything at all. I'd really like to help you…if I can." Zahiki-Warishi nervously weaved her fingers together. Then Watanuki remember the other thing she needed to do and quickly pulled out the package she'd purchased earlier that day, taking it out of the little plastic bag she'd been keeping it in.

"Here." She held out the packet to the sprite. The girl looked surprised, staring at the gift like she didn't know what to do with it. "Well…umm…you were the one who gave me that fried tofu earlier…right?" Watanuki blushed, turning away to hide her embarrassment by gently poking the pipe fox's nose.

"I…um…I heard that it was the pipe fox's favorite." The sprite replied. "B-but it seems like I caused you a lot of trouble." She looked down, seeming discouraged.

"No, you helped me." Watanuki blushed again. "So I just wanted to give you something to say thank you…so here." She held out the gift again. "Please, take it." Zashiki-Warishi's face did that thing again – the one where her face turned so red, so fast, that a steam cloud poofed out of nowhere and threw up her hair comically. "It got a little wet on the way here, but it was in a plastic bag so it should be alright."

"For me?" The sprite whispered, taking the white packet in both her hands and holding it up. "You got me a present?"

"Mmm hmm." Watanuki smiled wider, and then had to act all embarrassed and explained herself. "Dup-da, but I don't know what you like so I was just guessing." She scratched her cheek nervously. "I didn't know when I was going to see you again, so I couldn't cook anything." Zashiki-Warishi pulled off the red ribbon and unwrapped the white paper, looking at the wing clips nestled inside with an open mouth.

"Like I said…I wasn't too sure." Watanuki looked away, placing her hand behind her head in embarrassment. "So if you don't like it that's okay!" She chuckled awkwardly.

"I love it!" Zashiki-Warishi held the clips to her chest, thanking her new friend.

"Good, I'm glad." Watanuki sighed in relief. She wasn't really good with girly things. The two girls looked at each other for a moment, wet and nervous and embarrassed on both their parts. But they were both smiling and Zashiki-Warishi's eyes held grateful tears that shined in the moonlight beautifully. The moment lasted for only a short time though, being thoroughly interrupted by five, very loud, very angry voices.

"YOOOOOUUUUU!" Watanuki flinched looking all around for the voices and then looked up, spotting the Karasu Tengu floating above her head on their surf boards, fans out and ready to attack.

"You made her cry again!" The leader with the sunglasses yelled.

Watanuki looked at Zashiki-Warishi for help but the sprite was just as shocked as she was. The Tengu started making their dive, headed straight for the flailing girl.

"You're not going to get away with it this time!" Sunglasses yelled.

"We're going to get you!" Another said. Watanuki screamed as they came closer and closer.

"No! No! Nononono!"

"No! You're wrong!" Zashiki-Warishi stepped in front of the cowering girl, holding up the hair clips. "She just came to bring me this and that's all!"

"ATTACK!" The Tengu yelled and then skidded to a halt in front of the sprite, not watching to hit her and crashed into each other. Zashiki-Warishi took the moment to grab Watanuki's hand and started running towards the forest.

"This way!" She called, pulling on the girl's arms.

"Hey, look!" One of the Tengu yelled, pointing as the five of them struggled to untangle themselves.

"She's running away!"

"Worse than that! The jerk's trying to take her too!"

"CHARGE!" The five dwarves untangled themselves, bursting apart and flying after the pair.

Watanuki and Zashiki-Warishi dashed through the forest, the sprite's wooden sandals clumping heavily on the ground. The trees whipped past them in blurs of purple, both girls breathing hard in the quiet. Then, Zashiki-Warishi's sandal flew off her foot, the sprite falling to the ground and letting go of Watanuki's hand to scamper back to grab her shoe.

"Are you okay?" Watanuki asked, breathless.

"Come on!" Zashiki-Warishi took off her other sandal and started running, but not the same direction they'd been going in, but down a path on their left. The Tengu flew past where they'd turned off, overshooting their target and they can to turn around to follow, cackling evilly and yelling threats the entire time.

The girl's were holding hands again, running as fast as they could in the light of the moon, but no matter how fast they moved, the Tengu were still closing in, fans at the ready to pummel the offender and save the victim.

"There she is!" One called.

"We've got her!" Another cheered.

"Let's attack now!"

"They won't give up!" Watanuki started looking around for a way to escape the Tengu, her eyes scanning the forest as she panted heavily. "How long do they plan to chase us?!" Zashiki-Warishi said nothing, just looking at Watanuki and smiling, her blush dusting her cheeks. She wished this moment could go on forever, just holding Watanuki's hand as they ran was enough for her to be happy. After a few minutes of running, Watanuki could feel Zashiki-Warishi slowing down and stopped running to check on her.

"Are you okay?" Watanuki asked, turning to look at the sprite. Zashiki-Warishi shook her head.

"It's my wrist." She said. Watanuki looked down to where their hands were and started, quickly letting go of her grip.

"I'm sorry! Did I hurt you?" The sprite placed her other hand on her wrist and was about to answer, but they were interrupted. The Tengu spiraled down from the tree tops, still laughing the threatening.

"We've got you!" They cried triumphantly, dive bombing, their fans held up to smack the shit out of Watanuki. The seer threw her arms around her head, hoping to at least protect herself a little bit.

"Please stop!" Zashiki-Warishi cried, trying one last time to get the Tengu to see reason. They were three feet away, then two…then one. Right before they hit Watanuki, another voice shouted above the war cries.

"You idiots!" The Tengu stopped, hovering mid air. Watanuki's knees when boneless, relieved that she'd escaped the beating. And then she looked up to see who saved her.

"Ame-Warishi?" The Tengu and Zashiki-Warishi were also looking up, watching Ame-Warishi drift slowly down on the cool, evening air. She was still in a black Lolli dress, her parasol resting against her shoulders and her skirt fluttering around her legs as she descended.

The rain sprite was almost to the ground when her parasol caught on a tree branch and the girl flailed around try to keep her balance before falling to the ground in an undignified manner. She sprung to her feet, huffing as she closed her umbrella and rolled it tight. "You've gone too far! What were you thinking?!" The wrathful sprite swung her umbrella like a sword and pointed it straight at the Tengu. "Do you think its fine to ignore her and do whatever you want?!"

"But that guy over there made her sad again!" The Tengu all pointed to Watanuki as their leader spoke, hovering a few feet above the ground.

"Yeah, sad!" Another agreed.

"Yeah! We saw that jerk make her cry!" Another protested.

"You're wrong. I was crying because I was happy." Zashiki-Warishi explained. "See?" The sprite held out her new hair clips. Ame-Warishi walked over, leaning in close as she hummed over the hair accessories.

"What is that?" She asked, looking at the seer.

"It's just a present. For her." The girl said. The pipe fox on her neck peeked over at the rain sprite, watching her with interest.

"Mmhmm." The sprite was looking at the clips again. "It's cheap!" She tsked. Watanuki grumbled at her discerning eye and lack of finesse. It's not like she'd really gone out of her way to get inexpensive clips, those were just the ones she'd thought Zashiki-Warishi would like. Ame-Warishi picked up the package and opened it, rustling the plastic as she took the pins out. The sprite then reached over to pull back her friend's hair and slid the clips in; nodding in approval once she was done. "But I guess that's alright." Zashiki-Warish blushed, smiling with her friend.

Now that Watanuki had come to do what she'd been sent to do, it was time to go back to Yuko's shop. The two sprites and the Tengu walked back with her to the pond and the girl scrambled up the rock Zashiki-Warishi had been sitting on when they'd first run into each other, the protective sprite following her up to say goodbye. Ame-Warishi and the Tengu hung back, watching the couple carefully for their own personal reasons. Watanuki looked down into the pond, watching the ripples for a moment before turning back to her friend.

"You should be able to get home from here." Zashiki-Warishi explained.

"Hmm." The girl replied, warily watching the water. The last time she'd been sucked in she'd ended up in a place where daffodils wanted to scare the living daylights out of her. She didn't even know if she was going to be able to get back this way. But she trusted Zashiki-Warishi and smiled back, displaying confidence she didn't feel.

"You take care of yourself." The sprite wouldn't meet her eyes.

"Thanks for all your help." Watanuki said.

"Thank you too." She replied, her hand drifting up to touch her hair clips.

"See you around?" The seer asked.

"Yeah." The sprite nodded, tears welling in her eyes again. Watanuki instantly looked up, seeing the Tengu charging her again with an even hotter vengeance as they yelled at her.

"Oh no! Not again!" Watanuki quickly turned around the took a deep breath, pinching her nose shut and leaping into the pond. She fell down into the pond, the water soaking her as she swam for the surface. Then that weird thing happened were everything flipped and her body was being pulled down before being allowed to swim upwards again, the pipe fox slinking after her. The girl broke the surface before she could suffocate, throwing her hands over the side of Yuko's well before she even knew where she was. The girl was freezing again and wet and she'd just popped out of a well. She struggled to pull herself over the side, wiggling and kicking her legs until she landed face first on the ground with a thump.

"Ah! Welcome home!~" Yuko called, walking around the corner.

"Welcome home!" Mokona repeated from the witch's shoulder.

"You look like a drowned rat, Watanuki." Yuko commented, leaning over to look at the girl.

"What kind of homecoming is that!?" The girl shrieked, shooting to her feet and waving her arms in Yuko's face.

"We put well water in the vase so you'd come back through here." The witch walked over to the well, looking in. "It's a good thing you know how to swim, isn't it?" The pipe fox snaked out of the girl's shirt, popping up from in between her boobs and greeted Yuko with a squeak.

"Hello, you." She cooed, petting the tiny fox. "So…? You find her?" Yuko said, her voice teasing.

"Uh…yeah." Watanuki blushed, scratching her head and avoiding eye contact.

"Well," Mokona leapt into Yuko's hands as she spoke. "I'm glad it worked out." The two of them walked away, leaving the girl looking after them. Watanuki thought about the night's adventure, turning her head towards the well as she reminisced before looking up at the moon. It had been fun for the most part with only a few snags like the daffodils and Tengu. As the girl thought, a single, blue firefly flew past her, going higher and higher in the sky until its light was eclipsed by the moon's.

"Aright then," The girl started making her way back into the shop. "It's time to get back to my soup. And a bath. I'm soaking wet." Watanuki did end up taking a bath and finishing the soup, pleased to finally be warm again. She sat down at the table when she was done cooking, bowl at the ready for enjoying, steam rising from its surface. "And since I can't give the pipe fox any more of my fried tofu, I might as well enjoy it!" The girl picked up a piece of tofu with her chop sticks and almost had it in her mouth when the pipe fox leapt up in a graceful arc and snagged the piece right off her utensils. The girl watched in mute disbelief as the pipe fox gobbled down his piece and squeaked at her.

"You're lucky you're cute." Watanuki shot back, guarding her soup like her life depended on it so she'd get to be able to enjoy some fried tofu too.

The next day, Watanuki found a small package in her locker at school, wrapped in a blue ribbon that matched her eyes. The girl looked at the package and then glanced around, trying to see if anyone was watching her, trying to pick out who'd left it. _A secret admirer? _She picked up the package. It looked like the one she'd given Zashiki-Warishi – a simple white packet tied up with ribbon – and when the girl opened it, inside lay two hair clips from the same shop she'd visited yesterday. They were white and yellow flowers, tsubaki if she was remembering correctly (1). Watanuki smiled at the girl, wondering who could've given them too her. She hoped it was Wari, but the boy never really gave gifts to anyone so it probably wasn't him. But…could it be him? She could hope at least.

"Oi." A voice said behind the girl. She instantly prickled at the sound, snappig her head around to glare at Doumeki.

"That's not my name, dumbass." She hissed.

"What's that?" The archer pointed to the hair clips in the girl's hand.

"None of your business!" Watanuki retorted, trying to cover the clips up before he got any wrong ideas. But Doumeki was too fast for her and reached around her other side and snagged the clips. "Hey!" She yelped, reaching for them. Doumeki took the pins out of their packaging and reached for Watanuki's bangs, pinning the ones close to her ear back with both pins so quickly that Watanuki didn't even have time to pull away.

"There." Doumeki said. Watanuki looked at her classmate and she swore that he was smiling, even with his mouth in the same straight line it always was. Her hand drifted up to touch the pins lightly, blushing at the archer's attention. She turned around so he couldn't see her red face.

"Do they look good? I'm not really into girly stuff."

"Yes. They look good." He replied. Heat blossomed in Watanuki's chest, making her feel all warm inside and deepening her blush. The moment stretched on in perfect silence until Doumei spoke again. "We'll be late for class."

"Way to ruin the moment." Watanuki sighed, the good feeling she had evaporating at the reminder of school.

"Whatever. Let's go." Doumeki started walking to class and Watanuki walked behind him, ranting about his rudeness and lack of atmosphere reading. He however, was just too pleased that she hadn't taken out his clips yet, a very, very, very small smile touching his face when Watanuki wasn't looking.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

_Two steaming cups of coffee rested on the table, both untouched. The grandfather clock in of the corners of the octagonal tower ticked away, marking the passage of time with each swing of its pendulum. The woman was sitting on one side of the table and the witch sat on the other. The woman had her hands on her knees, fisting her fingers into the fabric of her maroon skirt, her hair falling in front of her face as she leaned forward. The witch was draped in a floor-length green and purple dress, the skirt divided into three layers of purple fabric with a slit up one side. She had her arms folded, her long, black hair let loose. The girl stood behind the witch, holding a serving tray to her chest as she watched, her winter uniform collar itching her neck. _

_The seconds passed, each tick of the clock echoing in the tower room as Yuko watched her customer. The lady fiddled with the sleeve of her yellow sweater, not meeting Yuko's eyes for several minutes. And then she looked up, her brown hair falling away from her face as she reached out for her tea cup. _

_ "__It seems to me that you have a choice." Yuko said suddenly. The woman's hand hesitated, hovering just over her tea cup. She gasped, her wide eyes looking at Yuko's. "You can hold back…or you can go ahead and do it. Do it because nothing can be done and there's nothing to lose." The witch placed her chin on her back of her hand, tipping her head to the side seductively as she planted her elbow on the table. "Go ahead and try it…no one's going to stop you." _

"Aw! Come on!" What the hell is going on?!" Watanuki grumbled, standing in front of a wall of lockers. She'd been waiting on a customer with Yuko when the witch sent her out on an errand. First she had to trudge down to the subway station, and then she had to stand in the humid tunnel to wait for her train, sweating through her gray uniform jacket and then when the train finally rolled up, she stepped into the air conditioned bliss of the car, and got shoved into a corner by two people's butts, a backpack and a briefcase until she was so squished she almost couldn't breathe. Almost. But thankfully, she had to switch lines after three stops and shoved her way through businessmen returning from work, housewives going shopping and students who were going home after their cram school classes until she shot out onto the platform with a satisfying pop and the train's doors shut behind her. Then she was back in the humid, sweating tunnel and then back on the air conditioned train and then out into the station and finally she trudged up the stairs into the crisp fall air. Watanuki looked around, searching for the locker that Yuko had told her to find. She spotted the wall off lockers and briskly walked over to where they were, and inserted and turned the key that Yuko had given her for the locker. She opened the locker and expected to find something important inside, but all she saw was a piece of paper, folded up nicely. Watanuki's eyebrow raised in suspicion as she reached in the locker and picked up the paper. She unfolded the note, just waiting for one of Yuko's childish pranks but it was just an ordinary piece of paper. The witch had left her a note.

_Fashion glasses – Yuko_

That's all it said. Watanuki stared at the note, her eyes shadowed by the glow of the setting sun, her lenses burning orange. She stared in silence, her eyebrows scrunching in quiet fury as her hand trembled, pinching the note in a death grip. The beep of people's subway passes echoed around her, the automatic doors creaking open and shut behind her. She could feel it rising from her toes, the tingle traveling up her legs, shaking her knees, pooling in her stomach before she finally let out her anger at being dicked around in one brilliant yell, her shout quieting all the taking and walking around her for a moment before she slammed the locker door shut, ignored all the stares she was getting and stomped away.

"She sent me all the way out here to get a hand-written note out of a locker just to tell me to buy a pair of cheap, plastic glasses?!" Watanuki hissed as she turned the corner and stomped across the crosswalk, getting a lot of weird stares from other people while she was at it (not that she really cared at the moment, she was too busy being pissed off). "If she wanted glasses why didn't she say something while I was at the shop yesterday instead of giving me a key and ordering me to take a trip to the boondocks?!" Watanuki recalled Maru and Moro dancing around in the receiving room while Yuko lounged on her couch and handed the girl the locker key. She nearly spat at the memory she was so mad. "This sucks! And is she going to wear these glasses? Or even worse! Is she going to make _me_ wear them?!" The girl's voice dripped with venom and sarcasm, the sheer power of her bad mood pushing people away from her like a bad smell. "She'd better not! I'd look stupid in two pairs of glasses!" The girl shouted, still not caring that everyone around her thought she was crazy. The girl sighed, her tantrum finally running itself out and she slumped over in defeat. Yuko knew exactly how to get her mad and this time she succeeded.

Watanuki looked up and spotted a bright pink 100 yen shop and decided that it wouldn't be bad to look for something cheap for Yuko's pair of glasses. And luckily enough, there was a bin of glasses sitting right out front. The girl's eyes lit up. "I've hit the jackpot!" She clapped her hands together in delight and smiled, and started digging. "Now let's see…I wonder if I can find a pair that doesn't look too cheap for only one hundred yes. Yellow…pink…purple…blue…aha!" Buried in the bottom of the bin was a pair of red glasses that caught the seer's attention. "Red!" The girl's had reached out and snagged the glasses, and she ran inside to pay for them.

"Thank you! Have a nice day!" The cashier called to the girl as she left the shop holding her little bag.

"Well, that's all finished…so I guess I should be getting back." Watanuki fished out the glasses from her bag and looked at them, wondering what the hell Yuko could want with them. The girl shrugged and wedged her finger in between the lens rims and the earpieces of the glasses and twirled it around her fingers, waiting for the crosswalk light to change so she could head back to the subway station. She stared across the street and noticed a brunette woman in a red blazer and skirt combination standing directly across from her.

Watanuki continued to twirl the glasses around her finger, just waiting for the light to change until she noticed a glint on that woman's shoulder, right over where her purse strap was. The glint traveled across her shoulder and disappeared behind her neck, intriguing the seer. She watched for the glint again, but it didn't come. The light was going to turn soon, so maybe if she got close enough, she could see if there was something strange on the woman's back. Watanuki kept watching, listening to the engines of the cars get louder and louder until they passed her and faded away. A particularly noisy motorcycle was approaching at the point, the higher pitched engine blaring in Watanuki's ears as it got closer and closer in the lane furthest away from her. The light turned yellow in the something strange happened. The woman in the red suit who had just been standing there suddenly tipped over and fell into the street, her hair streaming out behind her as she clutched her purse. Watanuki's face slackened, her chin dropping as she watched the woman fall. The motorcycle's brakes squealed as the driver tried to stop before he hit the woman, but he was too late in braking and the resounding _thunk_ from the crash hallowed out Watanuki's stomach as she dashed out into the street, the cars around her in a standstill from the red light. The woman was unconscious, her body strewn across the pavement. People were crowding around her before Watanuki could get too close, shouting and yelling at the accident while the driver of the motorcycle panicked over what had happened, standing next to his bike and hovering over the unconscious woman. Watanuki hesitated for a split second, wanting to check on the woman's condition, but instead ran to the nearest phone and called an ambulance before running back to the woman. Long minutes passed and a few good people helped Watanuki get her off her road so traffic could pass and waited for the ambulance.

The woman didn't seem to be hurt too much, some cuts marred her skin, her head had a bump on it and her wrist was swollen and it might be broken, but Watanuki couldn't tell. A police car drove up as Watanuki was waiting with the woman and the officer started asking questions about the accident to the motorcycle driver and some of the people who had lingered around to watch the drama. Watanuki calmly answered her questions and then sat next to the woman who'd been hit by the motorcyclist, her head resting on the girl's knees, her uninjured hand held tightly in Watanuki's. The woman was still unconscious when the ambulance came wailing up the street, but she started to wake up when the paramedics were moving her stretcher into the ambulance. She stayed mostly conscious as the ambulance bumped along the road and Watanuki held her hand for as long as she could, only letting go when the paramedics had to do something or get around her. Once they were at the hospital, Watanuki was left in the waiting room while the woman was rushed off to see a doctor. She sat for a little while and watched as hospital staff went about their duties and observed patient's families coming in and out for visits. The hospital's visiting hours ended while she was sitting there and Watanuki had to go home, having heard only that the woman hadn't been hurt too badly. Watanuki had called Yuko earlier to tell her she wasn't coming in to work that afternoon, and so the girl just went straight home after leaving the hospital.

She couldn't really sleep all night long, tossing the turning restlessly, concerned about the accident and the woman and how she was doing. Finally, Watanuki made the decision to go visit her in the morning and nothing would stop her. The girl nodded to herself, resolute in her decision and dozed off into a light sleep around two in the morning, her mind and worries finally letting her body rest. Early the next day, Watanuki called Yuko again to tell her she'd be in by late morning instead of earlier like she'd been told and took the train out to the hospital where the woman was. She got into the hospital but the woman she was looking for wasn't ready for visitors.

Feeling useless, the girl stepped outside after thirty minutes of waiting and walked a few blocks away from the hospital. The crisp autumn air surged through her lungs, causing a slight shiver and wasn't too distracting from the girl's current task of keeping herself occupied for a short time. Several gusts of wind tried to flip up her skirt, but the girl held down her pleats, one hand glued to her skirt and the other pushing her hair back from her face in the brisk air. She walked for a little while, enjoying the afternoon and getting all her nervous, frazzled wiggles out of her legs she'd had since getting into the ambulance. After a few minutes, the girl was smiling a little bit and she'd just gotten great idea from passing a little flower shop on the corner. Watanuki's smiled widened and she made a little pit stop before heading back to the hospital.

Watanuki sat in the waiting room for ten more minutes before a nurse came and told her that the woman she'd accompanied to the hospital was in her room and could have visitors if she was ready. Watanuki thanked the nurse and let herself be directed to the woman's recovery room before being left alone at the door. Watanuki lifted her hand up to know when she heard someone speak inside the room.

"I did it again…"Watanuki's hand froze, turned around to rap her knuckles on the door, and waited and inch from the door. She listened for the woman to say anything else, but she didn't and so the girl knocked softly. "Come in," she heard, a little louder than the previous sentence the woman had said. Watanuki put on a cheerful smile and turned the door knob. She poked her head in and laughed – one part cheerful and one part nervous. The woman's eyes widened in surprise (she obviously wasn't expecting visitors, let alone a girl she didn't know, but Watanuki walked into the room anyway, holding the boquet of flowers in both hands. She stopped near the bed, blushing shyly at the woman.

"Uh…hi! My name is Watanuki." She introduced herself awkwardly,

"You're the one who called the ambulance." The woman stated, shifting around in her bed. She was wearing standard hospital attire in and orange color, which seemed really weird but Watanuki guessed it worked. "You rode with me."

"Oh no! Please don't get up!" Watanuki failed her arms around a little bit, trying to get the woman to rest and take it easy, but she was sitting up before the seer had finished her sentence.

"Don't worry," The woman smiled softly, her brown eyes warm. She held up her left arm, the bandage stretching from her wrist, up her arm and underneath her sleeve. "It's only a hairline fracture. I'm Nurie by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Nurie. Lucky you were hit by a motorcycle." Watanuki smiled, sighing that her damage wasn't too extensive. She shrugged. "If it were a truck…who knows what would've happened." The image of the woman who lied flashed through Watanuki's head, recalling that she'd been hit by a truck right around the time she'd met Yuko. The girl shook that thought away before it damped her mood. _That _woman didn't get off so easy with her accident. Watanuki noticed that Nurie was looking at her funny, not replying to her comment and just staring at her with those flat brown eyes. Watanuki blushed nervously again and held up the bouquet she'd purchased. "Ah…get well soon." Watanuki held out the flowers with both of her hands, smiling warmly at the woman. She stared at them for a moment. Watanuki tipped her head to the side slightly in confusion. She couldn't figure out what was the matter. The flowers were pretty, nice, bright reds, yellows and whites. Did she not like flowers? What that the issue? Before Watanuki could ask, the woman grabbed the bouquet harshly with her good arm, pulled it behind her head that threw the bouquet right into Watanuki's with a flurry of petals.

"I see. Well…that's why you took yesterday off." Yuko mused, puffing on her pipe. Watanuki had just finished telling the witch the whole story, and she did it while changing the light bulbs of the chandelier in the octagonal tower. The seer was in the dark room with Yuko, standing on a chair while she just sat and listened and watched with amusement as the girl tried to juggle several big, round light bulbs and desperately trying not to fall off the chair. Yuko was wearing a cheery yellow and orange kimono with while flowers, the exact opposite of the dreary, rainy afternoon they could see out of the windows. Today, she'd just pulled her hair up in a simple bun, letting all three layers of her bangs hand loose to her waist. "And why you managed to be late this morning as well." Yuko let out a cloud of smoke.

"Don't worry. I forgive you." The older woman re-crossed her legs sensually, pulling her maroon wrap around her arms just a little bit tighter.

"There's something very scary about being forgiven by you." Watanuki commented, finally deciding to set down two of the three light bulbs she had in her arms and set them on the table to just work with one. The girl was wearing her usual smoke and handkerchief that she tied around her hair, but she still felt a little cold, even in the extra layers. Watanuki reached up with one hand to steady herself, her fingers wrapping around the light fixture, as she looked down, pausing in her work to look at Yuko as she picked up the red glasses she'd been made to purchase and smiled. "You know that smile is every scarier." Watanuki shivered at the sight. "So what are you planning to use those for exactly?"

"Who knows?" Yuko lilted. "So how is she doing?"

"Huh?" The subject change caught Watanuki off guard.

"You're friend in the hospital." Yuko clarified.

"Why?" Watanuki asked indignantly. "Are you worried about her too?" The girl leaned forward, parallel with the table so that the arm she had holding onto the light fixture was pulled behind her head.

"No, but I get the feeling _you_ are." She said it with her knowing voice. "You said you saw something unusual on her shoulder, right?" Yuko held up the glasses to her eyes without putting them on and Watanuki stared at the witch's eyes through them.

"Yeah, I saw a flash, but it could've just been a metal buckle on the strap of her hand bag."

"Possibly, but you're not entirely sure, are you?" Yuko suddenly zoomed into Watanuki's space, their lips almost touching. "You smell like flowers." The witch teased. Watanuki leaned away from her intense gaze and gasped.

"You see…well…I know this might sound weird but, she grabbed the bouquet I bought her and hit me over the head with it." Watanuki admitted, still bothered by the whole event.

"Did she?" Yuko said, her voice mocking as she sat back in her chair, pipe in hand. "You must've said something very irritating. Which isn't hard, I might add." Watanuki scowled. "Did you tell a bad joke like, 'Did you know? In the history of his hospital that no one has ever come out of it alive?' Or something like that?"

"No, I did not make a stupid joke like that!" Watanuki hissed, putting on her mad face. "I was being perfectly polite! She just hit me out of the blue!"

"Oh, really?" Yuko asked after a moment's pause, puffing another cloud of smoke into the room.

"Oh, yeah." Watanuki said sarcastically. "Like I said: I didn't give her a reason to hit me. And right after she did it, she started apologizing." Watanuki pitched her voice higher, mocking and imitating Nurie as she recounted what had happened. "'Oh, I'm so sorry! Please forgive me!'" The girl dropped the voice. "She seemed really sincere for what it's worth."

Yuko remained silent.

"And when I asked her about it, she said she'd been like this for a really long time now." Watanuki started wiggling around again with the bulbs. "She's always been doing stuff you're not supposed to do, like it there's a button you're not supposed to push, she'll push it or if there's an alarm switch you're not supposed to pull, she'll pull it. It's like a compulsion. Oh! And just listen to this!" Watanuki's voice got more excited as she spoke about Nurie, but since she was trying to unscrew a bulb, it was also knotted over with tension, straining her excitement. "She got sick on purpose so she would've have to take the high school entrance exams even though she knew she'd definitely pass them! _And_ she didn't even write her name on the exam paper for her first-choice university! Naturally, she failed and had to go to her second-choice school."

"What about now?" Yuko asked, listening with calm interest at Watanuki's story and watching with calm interest as Watanuki started doing acrobatics on her table and chair, lifting one leg up for balance and then the other as she tried to unscrew the old bulb from the light fixture.

"It's the day before a very big presentation at work and she's got a very good promotion riding on it. And she keeps insisting that she doesn't want to fail but that's sure as hell the way it looks to me!" Watanuki got the old bulb out and dropped it carefully on the table, and then had to stretch up again to place the new bulb in the empty spot, her spine and arms straining to get up that high. "I don't know. It's like she going out of her way to screw up her own life." Watanuki moved onto the next bulb and the next bulb until all the lights had been changed. During those few minutes, Yuko just sat and contemplated the situation. "Could some kind of spirit be responsible for her behavior? What do yo think?" Watanuki finally asked, stepping down from the chair.

"Maybe…" The witch started, resting her chin on her wrist.

"I knew it!" Watanuki shrieked, throwing her hands on her head.

"Uh, ah. Let's not be too hasty."

"Why not?"

"Well, think about it." Yuko stated.

"Uh…okay?" Watanuki didn't know what she was supposed to think about.

"Can you imagine what it would be like to be someone who can't accept happiness? Well, can you?" Now Watanuki was confused.

"What?" She just stared at Yuko.

"For instance: if you won millions of yen in a lottery…could imagine being unable to turn in the winning ticket and claim your prize money?" Yuko said, swinging her pipe in between her fingers.

"That's crazy!" The girl waved her hand in front of her face. "You paid for the ticket! You're entitled to the money…it's like when people pay you and you grant their wish!" The seer held her hands up in exasperation.

"That's right. _You_ wouldn't have any trouble cashing it in because you'd feel _entitled_ to that happiness."

"Happiness?" Yuko puffed her pipe as Watanuki looked at her, wanting and explanation to her little exercise.

"Exactly." A cloud of smoke came out with the word. "You don't understand her feelings.

"Nurie's?" Watanuki asked. The grandfather clock on the wall gonged, startling the girl. She jumped a little and looked at the time. It was five thirty. Yuko slipped on the red glasses, giving Watanuki one of her "eye" looks. This time her eyes said that she was up to something more serious than plotting to get her little slave to make more food or get her more beer. This was a serious sort of plot.

"Why don't you bring your little friend to the shop tomorrow?" She asked smiling slyly.

"What was that about happiness?" Nurie asked, when Watanuki visited her in the hospital the next morning.

"I'm sorry to have to say something like this…" Watanuki laughed nervously, twisting her fingers into the fabric of her uniform skirt and trying to find the best way to get around to shop thing. It was so weird to have to convince someone to come into the shop. Mostly they just came when fate brought them there. "You might have a problem accepting happiness and success in your life."

"I don't think so…" Nurie started. Watanuki continued on.

"This time it was just a hairline fracture, but who knows what it'll be next time." The girl said, both women looking down at the bandages on Nurie's arm.

"You're right." Nurie held up her arm. "This doesn't look like happiness, does it?" She looked out the window, staring at the windblown trees. "Maybe you're right and I'm one of those people who can't bear to be happy. Maybe I'm some kind of head-case…insane." She smiled creepily.

"I wasn't saying that at all!" Watanuki shouted, denying what the woman was saying, throwing her hands animatedly. "It's possible that this doesn't have anything to do with you! It's not that you're insane…there's just some forces in this world that make people act crazy sometimes! I've seen things you wouldn't believe, trust me."

"Do you mean…like I'm possessed or something?" Nurie asked, looking at the girl with blank eyes. The girl tensed up, trying not to bring spirits into the conversation just yet. Her eyes slid sideways, trying to come up with an out when Nurie panicked a little. "What's wrong? What do you see?"

"Nothing! That's not what I mean!" Watanuki flailed around and then slapped her hands down on the bed, leaning in to try and convince Nurie to come to the shop. "Listen! There's someone I need you to meet!"

And so it happened. Nurie was released from the hospital and went home to change, meeting Watanuki as a bus stop before they rode to Yuko's shop. After the short walk, Watanuki led the woman inside to the octagonal tower where Yuko was in a fairly simple green and purple dress (compared to her other more extravagant outfits). The seer left them alone for a minute to make some coffee and came back with a tray, setting down the cups and them taking her spot behind Yuko, standing with the tray held to her chest as she tried not to fiddle with her skirt and itchy collar. Nurie had her hands on her knees, looking down. She looked uncomfortable and it looked like the two women hadn't said a word to each other even though _something_ must've happened already for this much tension to be in the air. The clocked ticked, the second filling the silence. Nurie carefully reached out to take her tea cup.

"Go ahead and do it, if you really want to." Yuko said, causing Nurie to stop reaching, her hand suspended in midair.

"Um…I-I don't…What are you talking about?" Tick, tock.

"Why, throwing that cup of coffee in my face, of course." Yuko rested her chin on her hand. Watanuki and Nurie both gasped. "This is a shop for granting wishes. The fact that you came here means you have one. Now what could it be, I wonder?" Tick, tock, said the clock. Nurie said nothing. "Come now, no need to be shy. I've heard it all before."

Tick, tock.

"Any kind of wish? Really?" Nurie's face looked hopeful as she asked her question.

"Really. Any kind at all." The clock ticked away, the birds outside sang, but the silence in the tower room stretch on for an endless moment.

"I want to over come…" Nurie started.

"Overcome what?" Yuko asked.

"To overcome…the urge to do things I'm not supposed to." Yuko chuckled a little, sitting up straight in her chair.

"Let me ask you something: say you bought a lottery ticket and you won the grand prize jackpot…would you go cash it in?"

"The grand prize?"

"Would you cash it in?" The witch asked again.

"I-I don't think I would." Nurie answered, her eyes slipping to the table. "No."

"Really?"

"I've been this way my entire life! I can't seem to help it. Even when the right way is perfectly clear or I've been told exactly what I need to do, I always have to do it differently and I screw it all up. It's like a curse or something." Nurie slammed her hands on the table. "Do you have any idea what that's like?! Has it ever happened to you?"

"I don't and it hasn't." Yuko replied, folding her arms. "But who cares? We're talking about _you_ not about me." Nurie's hands fell into her lap. "And regardless of the cause, this is what you see and perceive from the world. Your feelings and perceptions make your reality. You're life is a creation of your mind. What the vast majority of people call 'reality' is just a point of view they choose. The same thing is true of all of your feelings. Knowing this…do you still think you need to overcome what you feel?"

"Yes, yes I do! This whole situation is too weird and it puts a burden on everyone around me." The woman looked at her hands, fiddling with them in her lap. "And then this injury…"

"I wonder." Yuko interrupted, reaching her left elbow behind her to rest in on the back of her chair.

"Huh?"

"You say this situation puts a burden on everybody and I wonder what you mean. The only person I see this effecting, the only one bearing the burden…is you." Nurie's head snapped up in shock, her eyes wide.

"I…I don't-"

"Your happiness is your business. It's a promise you make and keep to yourself." The witch interrupted. "It is a reward you give to yourself after accomplishing what you've set out to do, achieving what you strive for. But if you fail to award yourself for what you accomplish, then you are essentially breaking a promise to yourself. It's like a breach in contract. Compensation must always be made, you must pay all of your debts in full, even to yourself." _There's Yuko's catch phrase, _Watanuki thought, listening intently to the conversation. "Therefore: you win the lottery? You should cash that ticket in. You're cheating yourself otherwise. Ten thousand yen should be paid for something worth ten thousand yen for example, just as something worth three hundred million yen should be paid with three hundred million. Even discounts and haggling destroys the balance."

Tick, tock, tick, tock.

Yuko reached into her dress and pulled out the red glasses Watanuki had been sent to buy two days ago and set them in the center of the table.

"Hey! Those are-" Watanuki said, cutting herself off.

"What are these?" Nurie asked.

"They're magic glasses." Yuko answered, smiling. "If you wear these glasses regularly, you will always be able to tell which path is the right one to take. They will prevent you from making the wrong choice."

"Is that really the truth?" Nurie asked, her voice hopeful but not quite believing.

"Take them?" Yuko held her hand up, gesturing for the woman to do what she said.

"But I don't have any-" Yuko slid the glasses closer to her guest.

"It's fine." She insisted. Watanuki leaned down to Yuko's ear, holding up one hand to shield the noise of her whisper.

"But payment…?" She knew how the shop worked, and this exchange was _not_ how the shop worked, nor was it how Yuko worked.

"It's up to you what to do. It's your decision to make. You can wear them if you want to, or you can just throw them away." Yuko ignored the girl and Watanuki stood up straight again, knowing that she'd been ignored. She was even reminding Yuko of what she was supposed to do in the first place! And what happened? She was brushed off! It was very depressing.

Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock.

"What was that all about? Seriously!?" Watanuki griped, sitting in the chair that Nurie had been sitting in a little white ago. Evening had fallen, the windows in the tower room fading to a deep purple with the sinking of the sun. Yuko was sipping at her coffee, having ordered Watanuki to make a pot of tea for her too and some snacks _and_ a few glasses of whisky on top of that, which were now resting on the table. The witch hadn't moved from her chair the whole time the seer had been at her job.

"What was what?" The woman asked in turn, taking a drink of alcohol.

"You know what I mean!" The girl snapped back before taking on a more calm tone. "What there really something magical about those glasses?" _I bought them from a one hundred yen store…did she do something to them to make them magical? _

"Not at all. They were just a cheap pair of plastic glasses." Yuko turned her cranberry eyes on the girl. "You should know that, Watanuki. You're the one who bought them, aren't you?"

"Then why did you give them to her?" Yuko chuckled, taking another drink, the ice in her glass clinking about. "And on top of that, you not asking for payment is a little out of character."

"But there was payment." The witch replied.

"What are you talking about!?" Watanuki stood up, her chair sliding backwards with her motion and the girl slapped her hands on the table. Yuko picked up her pipe, the embers glowing from inside the bowl as she took breath of smoke and let it out.

"Do you remember that little talk we had yesterday about the lottery?" Watanuki nodded, still confused about just about everything. "Consider this situation: you're on your way to school one day and suddenly a perfect stranger approaches you saying, 'I'd like to give you one trillion yen, young girl!' Do you take him up on it or don't you?"

"Ug! Of course I don't take him up on it! Money just doesn't come out of nowhere!" The girl scowled, waving her hand in front of her face in rejection.

"What do you mean?" Yuko asked in an innocent voice that didn't match her character at all.

"It's too good to be true! It's got to be some kind of trick!"

"Exactly, that's my point." Yuko said.

"What?! I still don't get it!" Watanuki growled.

"In this case you're acting exactly like Nurie." Watanuki's face morphed from anger to a quiet disbelief. "You're rejecting happiness. Think for a moment. I didn't say this guy was a crook or a conman, I just said he wanted to give you money." Watanuki reached back and scooted her chair in before sitting down again, finally understanding where Yuko was coming from.

"Yeah but, anyone would be suspicious of that, Yuko. A fortune falling into your lap…"

"And why is that?"

"Because no one ever gets something for nothing, it's common sense!"

"That's right: if you're going to have great happiness, then great effort is required in exchange. That's called compensation." Yuko blew out another cloud of smoke. "You know, people are very fond of saying that life comes out evenly…for the good things in life there are the bad…for the bad things in life, there are always the good."

"Riiiight…" Watanuki nodded, having been told that or believe in a concept like that before.

"But that's not the whole truth." Yuko stated. Watanuki's face went completely blank.

"What's the truth?!" She asked quickly, wanting to know what secrets to life Yuko had stored in her brain (and she had a pretty good track record of being right to back her up).

"In order for you to be happy, you must be willing to accept the burden of an equal amount of unhappiness in exchange as your payment." Yuko hooked her elbow around the back of her chair as she talked, holding up her pipe in her other hand. "That's the instinctive reason we fear misfortune when things are going well, why we wait for the other shoe to drop. Just saying that there's good for bad and bad for good is a way of dodging responsibility." Watanuki waited for Yuko to go on, knowing that the witch was on a roll. "To put it another way: the more you achieve, the greater the demands that will be placed upon you in return. And if you don't meet those demands, you're not acting on good faith. But of course, on the other hand, if those demands start to outweigh the reward somehow, one should rest from the demands until the results once again justify the means." Yuko paused to take another smoke.

"Well, tell me this: I mean…I still don't understand though. This isn't about great happiness; this is just about someone who can't accept regular happiness!"

"Oh, that isn't the case. No Watanuki, this time it is all about balance."

"Balance?" Watanuki voiced her continuing confusion just as Yuko put her pipe in her mouth again, so the witch just talked around the mouthpiece.

"Anyone can be drawn in by the lure of self-destruction. It's a perfectly natural compulsion that anyone of us might experience. But don't think for a second that that is what's happening with this young woman. Whether very great or very small, fortune is a mixture of good and bad in our lives and no matter what, payment must be made for the things that are good." Yuko's eyes narrowed, her Cheshire Cat smile making an appearance. "Try as you may, but there is no way to avoid it. Understand? She's trying to run away. It's not that she's unable to accept happiness, she's just afraid of the payment if she does accept it. It's exactly as she told you: it's not as if she wants to fail, she just wants to dodge the reckoning." Yuko puffed her pipe yet again, her latest cloud of smoke lifting into the air.

"Hold on! You're saying she's trying to dodge the reckoning?" Watanuki almost-yelled. "She walked into traffic and got run over! How is that dodging?"

"True, but she only got hit by a motorcycle, didn't she?" Yuko pulled her pipe away from her face with that all-knowing look in her grin. Watanuki gasped indignantly, shocked at Yuko's unconcerned tone at someone else's misfortune. "And all she got was a hairline fracture."

"Well, sure, but still!"

"I think she very deliberately chose when to step out into the street. If she hadn't otherwise, odds are she would've stepped out into a truck and she'd have worse than a cracked forearm. Instead, she's okay and she rather handily got out of having to deliver that presentation at work. She dodged it, don't you see? She dodged all that pressure and all that responsibility. She dodged her big promotion as well."

"But she hit me!" Watanuki argued, blowing her fly-away hair out of her face as she did. "How does that-"

"So what?" Yuko said flippantly. "She took no real risk, you _helped_ her. She could see how kind-hearted you are. She knew you weren't likely to get mad at a delirious invalid for hitting you on the head with a bunch of flowers." Yuko continued on, setting down her pipe and picking up the bottle of whiskey to pour herself another drink. "It's just like pulling the fire alarm at school. Sure, it's not something you're supposed to do, I know, but it's not like you pushed the launch button on a nuclear missile and started a war. At worst you'd get scolded. The same with failing a test. She messed up her chance for her first-choice university, but she had a second choice all lined up." _Yuko really has her all figured out_,_I guess_. "And suppose she had thrown that coffee at me, do you think she was running any real risk with that? She already knew that I had already been told that she was a very troubled individual. I wouldn't be surprised if she did something crazy. I'd probably even make allowances for her behavior and forgive her. Again, no real risk. Understand now?"

"I see." Watanuki's face dropped into a sad expression as Yuko's argument was laid out before her.

"It's just a pose. She's not really the sort of person who'd push a button without regard to what the consequences might be." The clock ticked behind the two women, the hands resolutely creeping towards eight o'clock.

"So will she be alright? Tell me." Watanuki implored her employer. "Will she be able to chose the right path from now on if she wears the glasses?"

"Come now," Yuko's ever-present smile widened. "I told you! They're just a regular pair of glasses!"

"Then why give them to her?"

"Someone like you who is used to wearing glasses doesn't notice them anymore. But it's a new thing for her…she can't help but be aware of them. It'll force her to stop and think."

"But what good will that do?"

"From the very beginning she's always know what was best for her even though she's refused to acknowledge that fact. But she'd been avoiding that subconsciously. Therefore, I tell her to wear the glasses, that makes her aware of what she's doing. It makes her think. So in a little while, she'll become aware of the consequences of her actions and as a result…her wish will come true."

"But I still don't get what her payment was!" Watanuki understood everything up to that point. Yuko not asking for a payment still had her stumped, but Yuko was saying now that her wish would be granted and therefore she _had_ paid with _something_.

"Her _freedom_." Watanuki gasped softly at the witch's answer. "Hopefully from now on she'll hve no choice but to accept the responsibility that happiness places on her. She won't be able to run away. It's going to be very interesting to see if she can handle it. It'll be a new experience for her."

"So then you're saying that Nurie's problems were always of her own making? What about the spirits?"

"Nothing to do with it." Yuko sighed, turning in her chair to face Watanuki fully.

"But wait, what about that flash I saw!" The girl argued.

"A buckle on the strap of her handbag, of course!" Yuko chuckled as the clock struck eight, the gonging sound seeming to signal some sort of change occurring.

Outside the shop, Nurie was walking down the street, the glasses clutched in hand. Her shoes clicked on the sidewalk as she went along, her shadow following her in the light of the moon. She walked past several shops and restaurants before coming to a trash can. She stopped and looked at it, contemplating throwing the glasses in there and being completely done with the strange lady in the shop. She looked at the lenses, holding them up and then kept walking. The intersection where she wanted to cross to get to her bus stop and just switched lights and the cars zoomed past in front of her. She sighed and looked up at the Do Not Walk indicator, the little red man standing still until the light changed. She watched as several cars past her. Red ones, blue ones, white ones, yellow ones. Her foot came up, ready to step out into the street. She squeezed the glasses in her hand, the frames straining under the pressure. She looked down at the glasses as the shop owner's voice flitted through her head.

_Go ahead and do it if you want to. _

She closed her eyes, thinking very hard about her choice and held onto the glasses tighter. The cars kept passing and her foot stayed poised to step out onto the street. She opened her eyes after a long moment, resolute in her choice. Her foot came down. The light changed and the cars driving past her stopped, and the little red man turned green, allowing her to walk across if she wished. She did. She started walking, her shoes hitting the pavement softly. She crossed the street safely for the first time in a very, very long time.

To Be Continued...

Note 1: White and yellow tsubaki flowers in the Eastern flower language represent waiting and longing respectfully. Tsubaki are also known as camellia flowers in Western countries.

A/N: And there you go! I hope to get the next chapter up within the next two weeks like I had originally planned for my publishing schedule! Thanks for sticking with me so far and look out for my special Christmas fic this week! :3 See you next time!


	11. The Demon Parade and The Snowball Fight

A/N: ZareEraz here! Thanks for waiting a while for this one! It's super long and full of DouWata yumminess that I hope you enjoy! Don't forget to read and review! :3 Happy Reading!

Chapter Ten: The Demon Parade and The Snowball Fight

"I can't believe it!" Watanuki grumbled as she whacked her duster against the shelves of the storehouse, sending up clouds of dust that hovered in the air before dropping down on the floor that she would have to sweep…later. Much later, because right now, it was taking all of her time just to get the shelves decent. And she was also grumpy because her winter uniform was going to be filthy by the time she was done, even with her long-sleeved smock covering up most of the jacket and skirt. "I spend all that time cleaning the warehouse and it's a mess again! Damn that Yuko!" Watanuki growled, whacking her duster harder as she snarled. As she whacked, Watanuki noticed a strange picture on the shelf she was cleaning and leaned in to get a closer look. "Huh?" It was a picture of a anthropomorphic cat wearing a green kimono with white and green patterns on the edges of her sleeves and her obi was a dark blue. The cat had golden fur and big, green, cat-like eyes, ears that were as big as her head and she was holding a strange lantern in her hand that seemed to give the picture and eerie glow. She was smiling mischievously, much like Yuko would, and it gave Watanuki and unsettling feeling, like the cat-lady was watching her.

"Look at that! It's a little kitty-cat." Watanuki rested her chin on the shelf to stare right into the small picture, resting her hands under her chin. "It's wearing a kimono…and what's that glowing thingy? Hm?" Watanuki stopped her musing and watched the picture as it shifted ever so slightly. Then it started wiggling and then rocking back and forth and then jumping like something was tossing it around. Watanuki had barely any time to react when the picture clunked down into its spot again and suddenly there was a face right up next to the glass. The yellow and white face pushed against the frame until it popped right through! Watanuki screamed, her voice traveling up several octaves as she scrambled away from the shelf as fast as was physically possible, falling on the floor in the process. Along with the head came the rest of the creature's body until the entirety of the cat-lady in the picture was sitting on Watanuki in the middle of the storehouse. Watanuki kept screaming at the cat-lady sat on her, wriggling and twisting and trying to get away from the spirit before it ate her or something like that.

"What a rude child! Talking about me right in front of my face!" The cat-lady held up her sleeve to her face, much like the ladies of old Japan used to do when they talked. She spoke with much dignity and Watanuki could tell that she was not pleased by the way she had been received by the girl. Just then, the door to the storehouse slid open and Yuko decided to make her appearance, wearing a white, high-collared top with red accents paired with an aquamarine skirt and having pulled her long, black hair into a high, side pony tail, she looked ready for a party.

"I heard a god-awful scream in here. What's all the commotion? Watanuki, get a move on! We're all out of munchies in the other room!" Yuko poked her head in, smiling like she was enjoying the whole scene (which she was) and carrying Mokona on her shoulder. "And how about some broiled fish?"

"And don't forget to bring some sake!" Mokona added, pulling out the empty sake bottle it had downed just a few minutes earlier. Both the witch and the fur ball caught sight of the cat-lady.

"It's good to see you, dear Yuko!" The cat-lady greeted the witch, smiling like she was seeing an old friend (she was).

"Good to see you, dear Akari!" Yuko bowed her head respectfully and smiled warmly, sitting down next to the cat sprite. "My, my, is it really that time of year again?"

"Oh yes! It's that time of year again!" The cat-lady Akari replied, holding up her sleeve to her mouth daintily.

"Where has all the time gone?"

"It passes like and arrow in flight." It was at this moment that Watanuki spoke up. Well, she snarled up really, flailing around as the two women sat on her, holding their little reunion on the girl's back.

"Could you please talk about this somewhere else!? Move please!"

"You'll have to forgive Watanuki, she can be a bit testy at times." Yuko sighed, standing up with her friend.

"I am not testy this time!" The girl denied as she was allowed up. The seer brushed off her clothes from being on the dirty floor, sending up her own little clouds of dust. "You sat on me!"

"But you _are_ testy, you admitted it!" Yuko giggled. Mokona and Akari joined in laughing at the poor girl and Watanuki realized that she had painted herself into a corner with that one.

"Whatever!" The girl huffed, stomping away.

"Some broiled fish, Watanuki!" Yuko called after her.

"And sake, please." Akari added.

"Lots of it!" Mokona cheered. Watanuki growled and just went to do what she was told. Better that than be made fun of some more.

Several hours later, Yuko, Akari and Mokona were roaring drunk and eating everything in sight. The trio was sitting at one of the low tables, looking out into the evening after Watanuki had opened a set of porch doors. The girl scowled, watching the three of them laugh and talk, holding even more snacks and sake. At least she had Maru and Moro to help her carry plates and bottles.

"Two drunks and one animal…" Watanuki suddenly realized that her life was weird. And the only reason that that pissed her off was because she'd gotten used to the weirdness in Yuko's shop and that was scary. Half the time she was slave and the other half was spent completing dangerous errands that Yuko sent her on and half that time of that half she was almost getting killed! Mostly, Watanuki was just messed up at this point.

"Shake a leg, Watanuki!~" Yuko called, holding her empty bottle above her head. It was her nineth.

"We need more sake!" Akari sang, wiggling her bottle too. It was her sixth.

"Sake!~ More sake!~" Mokona shouted, jumping up and down with both of its empty bottles. That was Mokona's seventh and eighth.

"Yeah…yeah…" The girl sighed.

"Sake!~ Sake!~ Sake!~ Sake!~" Maru and Moro sang as they twirled over to the table with more alcohol and snacks. Watanuki trudged behind them, carrying her own share of food and drink, her shoulder slumped.

"And I bet we'll need more ekikiyabe for later." (1) She grumbled. After setting down her load, Watanuki sat down next to the table and went back to broiling the _mirinboshi_ that Yuko had ordered in the storehouse. She salted the fish again and flipped it around with her cooking chopsticks. The fish was set on a small weaved sheet (like the ones you let cookies cool on) and had a little white oven under it with the fire burning brightly beneath the fish.

"It's a little early this year, isn't it?" Yuko asked, pouring more sake into her guest's cup.

"That's correct. We've had so much rain that we can expect an excellent vintage." Akari took a sip from her cup after she'd finished talking. "So she's the one." The cat sprite gave Watanuki a once over with narrowed eyes, drawing the girl's attention. It was like she was eyeing a mouse.

"Huh?" The seer asked.

"This is the young woman that Zashiki-Warish is enamored with? Isn't she the one who did that little favor for Ame-Warishi as well?" Watanuki gasped, surprised that this strange sprite she'd never met before knew about those things. And as if having timed it perfectly, the pipe fox leapt at the girl from behind in a sneak attack and wrapped himself around her face several times to plant some kisses on her cheeks. The girl squealed and yelped when he stopped kissing her and then dove down the high collar of her jacket and shirt, wriggling around in her clothes until the little monster settled in between her small breasts just like he always did. She would swear on a Bible that pipe fox was a pervert in the highest degree. Akari chuckled and the girl wriggled and squirmed her way right off the porch and into the garden. "And the pipe fox really likes her!" Watanuki ended up gasping for air over a boulder, the pipe fox still nestled at her chest and the two ladies behind her just went back to drinking. "Do you know how famous you are where I come from, kiddo?" Yuko laughed heartily.

"That's wonderful!~" The witch stated.

"Wonderful!~ Wonderful!~ Wonderfulwonderful!~" Mokona agreed, sounding teasing at the same time.

"Watanuki's famous!" Maru sang, hopping back near the table.

"Watanuki's famous!~" Moro repeated, hopping back with her sister. They linked hands and started running around in circles joyfully.

"This one is famous!" Maru sang.

"That one is not!" Moro sang back. Watanuki had no idea who she was talking about.

"Where does she come from anyway?" Watanuki gasped, looking up from her rock. Akari pulled out a golden pocket watch from her sleeve and looked at it for a moment.

"Oh, my goodness gracious. Look at the time." She said, clicking her watch shut. "Well, I must be getting along, dear." Yuko finished taking a drink before answering.

"Thank you so much for the gift." She said graciously, even though Watanuki hadn't seen Akari give out any gifts to anyone. The cat sprite stood up and walked toward Yuko.

"You don't have to be so formal! After all, you and I are old friends, aren't we?" The sprite held up her lantern, and Watanuki finally got a good look at it. It looked like a red paper lantern, only it was shaped like a huge cherry with a stem and it wasn't glowing like a lantern. Akari used her free hand to hold back her kimono sleeve and presented her lantern to the witch, but Yuko held her hand out.

"Could you please give it to Watanuki this year?" She asked. Akari instantly leapt over to where Watanuki was crawling back onto the porch and stuck her face right into the girl's, much like a cat would do to a sleeping human that it wants to get up. The sprite narrowed her eyes again and tipped her head to either side a few times, scrutinizing the girl and Watanuki got over her surprise and frowned at the cat-lady.

"You look like more trouble than you're worth." Watanuki didn't know whether to be insulted or not, the lady was just too polite! "But Yuko must see something special in you, otherwise, she wouldn't waste her time." Akari's pupils dilated, the black taking up almost all of the green, much like a happy or curious cat's eyes will do. "Keep up the good work, young lady, and the changes _will_ come, little by little. _Lots_ of changes." Now Watanuki didn't know whether to be scared or not. The way Akari said it, it sounded like these changes might be painful or horrific. But Watanuki didn't have time to think about that before the sprite was holding out her lantern to the girl. The raven paused for a moment to look at the lantern and then took the stem in her fingers as Akari let go. The sprite then walked over to the table and drank straight from a sake bottle, finishing the whole thing in just a few gulps before sighing happily.

"I must say Yuko that you are the best host on any world that I have ever visited!" Akari held out her hand and a small fire started from nowhere under her paw, and when it disappeared, another cherry lantern was in its place. Akari grasped the stem and then daintily walked off of the porch and into the dim evening. She turned around once, to bow to her hosts on the porch and to waved goodbye. "Bye! See you all next year!"

"See you next year!~" Yuko, Mokona, Maru and Moro shouted back, waving as the sprite walked away. She stopped just in front of the tree line that Yuko had grown in her garden and winked at the group on the porch before bursting into flames and disappearing, much like the appearance of the second cherry lantern.

"Yuko, what is this thing?" Watanuki asked, holding up her lantern.

"You really want to know?" She asked, half teasing, half mysterious. She nodded, so Yuko told the girl.

"It's a what?" Wari asked cheerfully, eating his sandwich at lunch the next day.

"A ground cherry!~" Watanuki replied, smiling happily (3). They were eating on the stairs near the roof today because the weather outside was too cold. Wari was sitting on a chair he'd swiped from a nearby classroom and Watanuki was sitting on the stairs.

"Well, that was obvious." Doumeki interjected, reminding Watanuki that the two of them had a third wheel at this little lunch date.

"WILL YOU BUTT OUT?!" Watanuki yelled, threatening to poke out Doumeki's eyes with her chopsticks. All he ever did was eat all her food and interrupt her. Watanuki had no idea why he kept sticking around, but mostly it was just annoying. She wished he would just go away! But the girl never said it out loud because then Yuko might grant her wish and take something really horrible for her compensation. Like her first born child or something like that.

"By the way you described it; it sounds bigger than a regular one." Wari commented.

"You're not going to get any strange vibes from this thing, are you?" Doumeki asked with a mouth full of food. If Watanuki weren't so pissed at him, she might actually be touched that the archer was concerned for her well-being. However…she was pissed at him and didn't give a shit.

"According to Yuko, as long as you're holding it, you can participate." Watanuki said, ignoring her classmate.

"But in what exactly?" Doumeki asked, shoveling another mouthful of food into his gullet, per the norm.

"She said 'just go ahead and try it.'" Watanuki used air quotes to emphasize Yuko's words, which was quite a feat seeing as she was still holding the eye poking chopsticks in her fingers. "I don't know whether to be excited about it or scared shitless."

"Sounds like it might be fun!" Wari said, smiling cheerfully.

"Wari! If you wanted to come-" Watanuki started, blushing and deciding that it Wari came she'd be excited instead of scared shitless. It would be wonderful to have Wari with her when whatever was going to happen happened.

"Sorry, I'd love to but I have plans." The boy amended, rejecting Watanuki's proposal. The girl sank to the floor in dejection and waited for a spirit to eat her so she could die, having been shot down by her crush. "Can't Doumeki go with you?" Wari suggested, smiling the same as ever.

And that's how Watanuki and Doumeki both ended up in the park that evening. There were several things that sucked: first – it was already getting dark even though it was, like, only four, second – when it was dark spirits were more likely to come out and swarm Watanuki, third – the girl had been sent on some mission with the ground cherry that she didn't even know what she was supposed do with because Yuko didn't explain jack-shit, and fourth – she had to do it with Doumeki of all people!

"Just shoot me now." Watanuki groaned. There was a moment of silence and then the volcano erupted. "YOU KNOW, IT WOULD'VE BEEN JUST FINE IF YOU HADN'T COME ALONG!" Watanuki screamed, flailing and jumping and stomping around in her huge little temper tantrum. Doumeki just covered up the ear closest to the girl and said, "Too loud."

"I'm not helping you this time no matter what!" Watanuki said, pointing an accusing finger at her companion.

"Remind me, when exactly did you ever help me out before?" Doumeki said, the slightest bit of sarcasm inflected in his voice, just barely under the surface. (2)

"Grr! Grrrrr! ARGH!" Watanuki started to boil again and Doumeki just ignored her as she stopped up a storm in her little corner of the park. "Gah! Gah! Gahgahgahgahgahgahgahgahgahgahgah!"

"What should we do now?" Doumeki asked. Watanuki swiveled around with a vengeance and glared at the boy.

"WHAT TIME IS IT!?"

"It's just a little before four o'clock." Doumeki said looking at a wristwatch that Watanuki didn't even know he owned, but she did now. Watanuki dropped her school bag on the ground and held up the other object in her hand. It was the ground cherry wrapped in a green cloth so she didn't look too weird carrying a giant ground cherry in public. Watanuki put her hand under the cherry and let the pinched edges of the cloth go, revealing the brightly glowing cherry. It had a round light right in the center, much like the cherry in Akari's picture in Yuko's store house. This cherry was glowing just as brightly as the picture had seemed too, changing the deep red of the cherry into a bright orange. Watanuki picked it up by the stem and stared at it, confused as to where the light came from. "It's glowing," Doumeki said, stating the obvious.

"Yeah…but it's not warm." Watanuki replied, feeling a lack of heat if anything. As she was staring at the ground cherry, a piece of paper fell out of the wrapping cloth and started drifting towards the ground before Doumeki caught it. "What's that?" Watanuki took a few steps closer to Doumeki to see what it was, leaning over his shoulder. _That's Yuko's handwriting. _"Is it a letter from Yuko?"

"It says: 'You will only be able to see and participate if you are properly holding the ground cherry,'" Doumeki started, reading from Yuko's letter in his monotone voice.

"But see what?" Watanuki asked. That question had been asked several times that day and she still didn't have an answer.

"Wait, there's more." Doumeki continued reading. "'So you two will have to behave yourselves. Hold it together. It may help to imagine yourselves as a young couple cutting into their wedding cake.'" Watanuki's mouth dropped to the ground. _How could Yuko write that?! And how can Doumeki just read that with a straight face! _She was completely mortified, stuck halfway between blushing like her porn stash had been found or ripping Doumeki's mouth off for having read that offending sentence. So she went with a freak out, running halfway across the park bawling her eyes out, huge streams of tears trailing behind her until she stopped to stomp and wail to the sky, her hands over her eyes.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE DOUMEKI?! I WOULD'VE BEEN SO HAPPY IF IT HAD BEEN WARI! CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHY I'M BEING PUNSHISHED LIKE THIS?!"

"'Don't be such a baby." Doumeki said. Watanuki's tears dried up in an instant and she dashed across the park back to Doumeki with an avenging battle cry.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?! DON'T YOU CALL ME A BABY! I AM A GROWN ASS WOMAN!" She shouted, waving her fists (and the ground cherry by default) in the air until she could shake them at Doumeki's face.

"That's what it says in the note." Doumeki said, pointing to the letter as the girl skidded to a halt in front of him.

"Oh." The seer's rant evaporated as she leaned over to to look at the letter, the surprised syllable on her tongue. "So it does. It's as if Yuko foresaw how I'd react."

"'You're catching on, Watanuki.'" Doumeki read. Watanuki wheeled around, searching for any sign of Yuko. She had to be watching. Watanuki looked left, then right, then left again, and right again, putting her hand up to her forehead like a sailor watching the coast, her eyebrows set in skeptical mode. She couldn't see anyone in the dim light, let along Yuko but she kept looking back and forth with her eyes. Left, right, left, right, left. "'Relax, I'm not watching.'" Watanuki's face slid into and disgruntled, funny face as she was called out by a piece of paper and the dork reading it. "'Bup bup bup. Be careful. Your face'll freeze like that.'"

"Come on! You were totally making that up!" Watanuki wheeled on Doumeki next, a huge cross vein crowing her head as she bared her fangs at the boy. She hated being played with, by Yuko _and_ by Doumeki.

"Signed by Mokona."

"Now wait a minute!"

"And Maru and Moro." Doumeki finished up. Watanuki snatched the letter from his hand ferociously.

"Arg! You liar! I bet they can't even write!" Watanuki looked at the letter, seeing Yuko's and Mokona's signatures but not Maru's and Moro's. The girl wasn't wrong, the twins couldn't write. But they did the next best thing. Watanuki smiled softly at the two scribbled heads at the bottom of the page, the pink crayon one being Moro's smiling face and the black crayon one that was sleepy being Moro's face. It was actually pretty adorable. And they she realized that the twins were going along with Yuko's joke and it pissed her off again. "Will you people please just stop messing with me?!" Watanuki yelled to anyone who was within earshot, waving her arms (and the ground cherry by default) above her head.

"Too looooud." Doumeki said, bordering on singing phrases just like Yuko was prone to do when it came to Watanuki. But he didn't really, his voice was too monotone. Doumeki took the ground cherry out of Watanuki's fist before the girl could break it and that started a whole other round of yelling about how you're not supposed to take things that aren't yours and Doumeki just plugged the one ear closest to Watanuki's loud mouth. By the time Watanuki was all yelled out, the parks streetlamps were turning on, lighting up the dimness with bright patches of light. Doumeki just sighed and unplugged his ear and then held out the ground cherry in between them. He pinched his index finger, middle finger and thumb at the stem and took up half of the space on the stem. He was completely fine with pretending that they were a young couple cutting into their wedding cake. In fact, sometime in the future, he might want that to happen, especially if it was with Watanuki. For now, he was just fine to hold her hand on the ground cherry. But, Watanuki was being a spaz and wouldn't hold the damn thing, her fingers creeping close to the stem, trembling in anger or mortification (Doumeki couldn't figure out which one and he really wished she'd stop being such an ass around him (but he'd never say that out loud because Yuko might grant his wish and take something horrific as compensation…like his first born child or something like that)).

When she finally grabbed the stem, she grabbed it as far away from Doumeki's hand as possible and she was slumped over and crying. "But I don't wanna!" Watanuki was distracted by her humiliation at the hands of Yuko's letter when the light from the ground cherry grew brighter and brighter, whiting out everything around them so the pair couldn't see a thing.

Watanuki slowly opened her eyes, her vision blurry from the bright light of the cherry. She blinked a few times, trying to riddle out what she was seeing. It looked like a bunch of little glowing lights were being carried by strangely shaped clouds, bouncing and flying past her at a leisurely pace. Some of the clouds bounced, some of them slithered and some flew, gliding past with their lights faster than the clouds on the ground. And then the clouds started forming shapes as the seer blinked away her temporary blindness. Some looked fish or insect shaped, others looked like four-legged animals and others just looked weird period, being tall and skinny or short and fat. It was all weird actually. When Watanuki could finally see, she realized that the clouds weren't clouds at all, but strange beings holding ground cherries just like she and Doumeki were. And speaking of Doumeki, Watanuki quickly glanced at the archer beside her and saw that his mouth was slightly open in surprise (even if the rest of his face remained the same as usual). _That's a first, _Watanuki said to herself and then she realized that her face probably looked the same. So before Doumeki could catch her staring at him, Watanuki went back to watching the lights in front of her, the creatures' long shadows reaching out towards the pair who were standing a good ten feet from the long line of creatures. Their lantern was glowing just as brightly as the lanterns that were passing them, the warm orange glow joining the hundreds of others in the gray landscape. In fact, the orange lanterns and the colors on the creatures were the only colors that Watanuki could see, the rest of the ground and sky was a dark gray and the clouds above were a mix of white and a lighter gray.

"What on earth can it be?" Watanuki breathed, still watching the brightly colored creatures pass them. Some looked like hopping umbrellas, other looked like animals and some didn't really have a shape at all and were just blobs of cascading colors that moved through everything else.

"Hyakki Yako?" Doumeki replied, not believing his eyes (4). He'd never seen anything like this before, the strange creatures in front of him seemed like something out of a dream…or a nightmare. _Is this what Watanuki has to see every day of her life? Does she have to know that these things are right next to her and not acknowledge them at all in order to appear normal to those of us who can't see them? _It seemed like such a huge burden to see such amazing and terrifying creatures on a daily bases, to keep herself from being devoured or spirited away and not lose her sanity when other people didn't believe her. Doumeki had always believed that Watanuki could see things like this, but to see them himself…he was beginning to understand why Watanuki didn't believe that he believed her. It was too absurd for someone who had never seen monsters or spirits to say that he believed that others could see them and that's why Watanuki had been skeptical of his belief in her second sight for so long. It was an offer that was almost too good to be true. She'd probably thought, _How can anyone understand what I go through when they have no clue what I actually see? _Well, he could see it now and it was two parts terrifying and one part amazing.

"This is a parade of spirits and apparitions carrying lanterns? A monster procession?" Watanuki asked. This was definitely Doumeki's area of expertise if anything. Watanuki knew about spirits and yokai, but Doumeki had learned all the trivia about them from his grandfather, which he never let the girl forget every time he shared any information he had.

"Yeah, like that old painting from the Edo period, the _Gazu Monster Procession_."

"Do you think we're in a world of drawings?" Watanuki asked, hoping that it was just a painting because if it was the real thing, she was going to be screwed over so many times. If it was real, these spirits would be on her in seconds, probably tearing her apart and devouring her just for fun.

"How should I know?" Doumeki replied.

"If you don't know then shut your trap!" Watanuki snapped, furious that Doumeki had sounded like he'd known what was going on, leading her to believe that he could handle the situation they were in now. But, since he'd admitted that he had no clue what was going on, they were clueless at what to do. However, Watanuki's angry voice had drawn the attention of a blue fish yokai in a brown kimono. She stopped walking and turned to look at the pair holding a lantern, her face going flat when she looked at the boy and the girl like a real fish's.

"What are you two doing?" She said, her voice high and breathy. She started walking towards the pair and Watanuki started trembling as she got closer. Several other smaller spirits trailed behind her, interested in the late comers. _Please, don't eat me. Please, don't eat me. Please don't eat me! _"If you don't hurry you'll be left behind!"

"The monster procession waits for no one!" A turtle spirit added, standing by the fish yokai's side with his lantern in his hand.

"So this really is a monster procession?" Watanuki asked, barely keeping the tremble out of her voice. They didn't seem like evil spirits and they hadn't made a move to eat her, so right now it was probably best to figure out what the hell she and Doumeki were going to do.

"Well, of course it is!" The low voiced turtle yokai replied. "We do this once a year!" _So it's just like the demon parade legend back home. _Another spirit walked up next to the turtle and fish spirits as they were talking. It was a crane spirit wearing a kimono as well, standing taller than the other spirits and the two humans.

"Why do you ask?" The fish yokai asked. "Did you think it was something else?"

"I thought we were in a world of drawings…" Watanuki trailed off, blushing slightly in embarrassment. Obviously her guess had been wrong and this was a _real_ demon parade. The three spirits burst into laughter. Watanuki blushed deeper.

"The humans do have a painting like that, don't they?" The crane spirit said between laughs. _So at least I'm not completely stupid, _Watanuki amended.

"You have got to be kidding us, right?" The fish spirit giggled. "Oh, you two are just too cute!"

"We're going to get left behind too." The crane spirit noted, poking the turtle and fish as the parade passed all of them.

"You're right! We'd better get going!" The fish agreed. The three spirits walked back into the parade and disappeared into the sea of colors and lanterns. Watanuki looked ahead to see where the parade started, but it was so long that she couldn't see the beginning. She looked towards the back, but she couldn't see the end either.

"I guess we just join the parade then?" Watanuki asked nervously, her hand trembling on the cherry lantern. She hoped Doumeki couldn't feel it. They spirits they'd talked to hadn't eaten her, but that didn't mean that the others wouldn't as well, but it seemed like the only choice they had was to join the monster procession.

"I guess." Doumeki agreed. He had felt Watanuki's trembling which made him worry for the girl's safety, but so far, nothing had attacked them so it should be okay to join the parade. He took the first step, leading Watanuki to the path. Her breathing sped up as they walked closer and closer to the monsters that would devour Watanuki on any other day. It was like all of Watanuki's nightmares and realities had materialized at the same time, tormenting her. But she trusted Doumeki to keep her safe, he had before and Yuko trusted him too. It would be okay as long as she had Doumeki. _It's fine. It's fine. Everything's going to be fine. If I stick with Doumeki – as much I despise it – I'll be fine. _One step closer, and then another. Watanuki trailed behind Doumeki, her arm reaching forward to hold the lantern and his reaching back to hold his part of the stem. They took another step, and another. The parade was three feet away, then two, then one. Watanuki took a deep breath as they neared the procession, trying to act calm as Doumeki waited for her to come to his side. She stepped forward until they were even and she looked at him.

Doumeki had been watching her carefully the entire time they'd approached the procession and he could see that she'd come to some sort of decision. But now, seeing her eyes looking up at him, he was beginning to wonder whether this was a good idea or not. Doumeki could see the fear in her eyes, the terror at being faced with such a large group of spirits; but also trust – trust in him, he hoped. He'd keep Watanuki safe.

Her hand moved. Watanuki fingers slid down the stem of the ground cherry lantern until her fingers were touching Doumeki's. They weren't really holding hands, but it was as close as they could get while still holding the cherry. Doumeki watched as Watanuki took another deep breath and he knew that she was ready. They took that last step together, crossing onto the path and melting into the parade.

They entered seamlessly, the spirits around them making way for them until Watanuki and Doumeki were walking in the center of the group. Watanuki's eyes flicked from spirit to spirit, but they weren't really paying any attention to her. She also noticed that they weren't moving away from Doumeki, the yokai around him just strolling peacefully with the demon parade. _They don't sense me or avoid Doumeki…maybe the ground cherry has something to do with that. Maybe it dulls personal powers and abilities. That would explain why so many different spirits can be around each other for this long._

"Oi." Doumeki interrupted Watanuki's thoughts after a little while, pulling the girl from her musings.

"What?" She asked, disgruntled at behind interrupted with her observations.

"How are you feeling?" Doumeki asked. "Feeling sick at all? Any strange smells?" Doumeki remembered the time with Angel when Watanuki could barely stand because she said it smelled so bad. But so far, she hadn't been almost throwing up or plugging her nose.

"Not particularly." Ever since they'd joined the parade, the only roiling in her stomach she'd had was caused by her own stress over the situation and even that was started to abate, the girl had been too distracted thinking about the ground cherry to notice the spirits around them.

"That's good right? That's means the spirits in this process aren't actually evil, right?"

"You think?"

"You haven't gotten sick as far as I can tell, so these spirits must not feel any malice towards you." Doumeki paused for a second, thinking. "Though, I suppose there could be some dangerous ones around here somewhere."

"Why did you have to say that?" Watanuki grumbled, remembering that she was really in a demon parade and not on some afternoon stroll. Her stomach jumped a little bit. "I guess so…but how would I know? A spirit is a spirit to me." She huffed. No spirit had ever really been kind to her, there were very few exceptions to that, so they had to all be the same, right?

"You can tell the difference, can you? Between the good ones and the evil ones?" Doumeki asked, leveling his eyes at his companion. Being critizied by someone who had next to no experience with spirits compared to her didn't sit well with Watanuki. She narrowed her eyes at Doumeki and scowled.

"Oh and you can tell the difference? What do you know?!" She snapped. Doumeki had to be honest.

"Nothing." He was really just thinking out loud when he started talking.

"Oh, that's BRILLANT!" Watanuki shouted.

"Better pick up the pace." Doumeki pointed to the demon procession. "They're going to leave us behind." As the two of them had been talking, they'd stopped and the procession had walked right past them, the spirits moving to either side of the pair and leaving them behind. They were literally at the end of the parade with only a few spirits around them. There was a spirit that looked like a stone lantern on four legs, a big square-ish spirit with one eye and a few little animal spirits that skittered past Watanuki's feet. Doumeki pulled on the lantern, starting to walking faster, dragging Watanuki behind him. The girl stumbled and had to catch herself without letting go of the cherry, Yuko's warning about being able to see and participate by holding onto the cherry echoing in her head. She balanced herself and started walking with Doumeki, only to be tripped again when he pulled harder on the lantern. "Slow poke." He stated.

"It's hard to run holding onto this thing!" Watanuki shot back. "It'd be easier if we each had our own cherry!" Doumeki had to agree with her there, but he liked the fact that they were almost holding hands better than having his own lantern. If Watanuki and Doumeki had been birds, or even flying yokai, they could've seen the whole procession laid out in front of them from the sky. It was a dazzling line of lights and colors in the bleak landscape of this world, the gray sky and earth working only to enhance the spectacular array of spirits moving along the path to an unknown destination. However, they had the next best thing when the reach the top of a hill and could look down and see most of the parade.

"Look at all of them! Where could they be going?" Watanuki asked, more to herself than anyone else.

"I have no idea." Doumeki replied. Watanuki blew up again, screaming in his ear and since he only had one free hand, Doumeki plugged his left ear with his right hand so the girl didn't make him go deaf.

"Where do you get off with that pompous, know-it-all attitude of yours, you pretentious jerk!?" Watanuki had been so busy yelling that she hadn't been paying attention to who (or what) was in front of them and stumbled right into the square-ish blue spirit with the one eye in front. Her face crashed into its back hard, leaving red marks on both the spirit's back and Watanuki's nose.

"Heeeeey!" The spirit bellowed in a deep voice. "That hurt!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Watanuki's fear sparked in her chest and she really didn't want to be eaten and so she apologized profusely and bowed to the spirit so it wouldn't eat her.

"Ow. Be more careful then!" The spirit rubbed its back with its free hand and started walking again. Watanuki sighed in relief and placed her hand on her throbbing nose, rubbing it tenderly. She was about to rail on Doumeki again but when she looked up, he wasn't even paying attention to her. Instead he was looking up ahead. Watanuki looked too. The demon parade was heading up a large mountain-like rock, the path they were on framed on both sides by huge curves of rock, almost like some huge hand had gutted half a watermelon and had just left the rind. Behind the rocks, Watanuki could see a glowing light, the first light other than the lanterns that she'd seen in the barren landscape. It had to be extremely bright to light up the sky and most of the path that they were on now. She wondered what could be up there, if that's where the monster procession was headed.

Watanuki and Doumeki silently started to walk up the mountain, following the last of the spirits up the rocky path and closer to the light. The walk itself was not hard, mostly just a steady incline, but it took a long time to walk up it, the mountain was so huge. Watanuki was winded by the time they reached the top, but she refused to let Doumeki see it and tried to keep her breathing even. The light behind the mountain got brighter and brighter, casting long shadows from the rocks, the spirits and the two humans in the demon procession. The last of the demon procession had crested the mountain in front of the pair and disappeared for a few moments as Watanuki and Doumeki climbed towards the top, their single lantern burning brightly between them. As they crested the hill behind the spirits, Watanuki and Doumeki both stopped at the same time, staring open mouthed at the sight before them. It was nearly indescribable.

"It's incredible." Doumeki said.

"It's huge." Watanuki added. Down the mountain at the end of the path was a giant, glowing tree. It's trunk must've been a mile long, it's white branches sweeping about to cover a significant amount of the horizon and it glowed with an eerie, but peaceful blue light and had glowing balls of yellow light adorning its branches. The beginning of the demon procession was already gathering around the trunk and roots of the tree, the rest of the parade still following the path that wound down the mountain to the valley floor. They still had such a long way to go, but the tree stood out in the bleak landscape like beacon. And so the walk continued, down the mountain, and into the valley where the giant tree resided. Watanuki and Doumeki hardly paid attention to anything anymore, just following behind the parade until they too stood at the base of the tree. The balls of yellow light that Watanuki had seen on the tree were actually huge red flowers filled with glowing petals.

"Amazing…the tree is so bright!" Watanuki gasped, standing with Doumeki behind the crowd of spirits.

"So, are you getting any bad feelings?" Doumeki asked, looking at his classmate and wondering how the spirit tree was affecting the girl.

"Overwhelming maybe…but not bad." She answered, still staring up at the tree.

"With blossoms like that," A wasp spirit in front of the girl started saying, "I think we can look forward to another excellent year."

"Absolutely!" A furry, pink demon with six eyes all stacked on top of each other answered, smiling. Watanuki had no idea what they were talking about, but it was obviously a good thing that the flowers looked so bright. The girl wanted to see what was going on around the trunk and started leaning around the spirits in front of her and jumping to get a better look.

"What's happening?" Doumeki asked, letting his arm holding the cherry lantern go limp so that Watanuki could move around. The girl jumped up a few more time and spotted what was going on. A spirit was holding up its ground cherry to a blossom on the tree.

"Not…" Jump, "sure! It looks like they're bringing the ground cherries closer to the tree for some reason." The girl took a step forward to get closer, when she tripped over a little spirit she hadn't see by her feet, the little raccoon-dog creature bungling up her feet. Watanuki fell forward with a gasp, the little spirit scurrying away before she'd even hit the ground. Watanuki tipped forward, her right arm pulling Doumeki's until he couldn't lean forward fast enough anymore. Watanuki's hand slipped from the cherry, a pinging sound ringing out from the lantern in Doumeki's hand as Watanuki crashed to the ground.

Whatever spell that had kept Watanuki and Doumeki safe shattered.

The demons around the pair stopped looking at the tree, their narrowed eyes whirling around to see the two humans standing at the back of the crowd. The first to spot them was a bull demon, its four eyes glaring at the pair, and then a lizard demon saw them, and then more and more spirits caught sight of the pair. It only took Watanuki a second to get off her chest where she'd fallen on the ground and grab a hold of the lantern again, kneeling down on the ground, but it was too late. The spirits surrounded them.

There was a moment of silence as the multi-colored spirits watched the two humans, the wind whistling through the crowd as row after row of eyes watched the girl and the boy. And then the silence was broken by shouts of surprise.

"A human?"

"It's a human!"

"A human!"

"A human!"

"Why is a human here?"

"Here, of all places."

"Impossible!"

"But it really is here."

"How did they get a ground cherry?"

"More than that…what should we do about them?"

Watanuki watched as the spirits talked amongst themselves and she knew she'd messed up. They were surrounded by swaying spirits, the colors of each demon blending into the next as they wriggled and writhed around the two humans, their lantern hypnotic as they swung back and forth and back and forth.

"What should we do?" Asked a high voice.

"What should we do?" Asked a deep voice.

"What a bother." Another sighed.

"Well, they are human, after all."

"We'll be infected!"

"Is it something that could hurt us?"

"That's right! They're enemies, aren't they?"

"That's right!"

"They are enemies!" Watanuki's eyes widened as the spirits kept talking, the voices around them getting meaner and meaner with each sentence. The voices were hungry.

"Which means…" A low voice started.

"Without a doubt…"A soft one continued.

"It can't be helped." A decided voice finished.

"WE'LL HAVE TO EAT 'EM!" The whole crowd said together, taking one step in closer, shrinking the circle around Watanuki and Doumeki. They were so screwed.

"Should we?" The demons' eyes narrowed, gleaming hungrily.

"Definitely."

"We have no choice."

"Let's eat them!"

"Eat them up!"

"Eat them!" The spirits swarmed, getting closer and closer, the circle they'd left around the pair of humans shrinking rapidly. Watanuki couldn't move, she couldn't breathe. She'd doomed both of them by letting go of the ground cherry, she'd killed them both. Watanuki's body went limp, tears sprang to her eyes, her heart clenched in fear and her legs shook under her. If she hadn't already been on the ground she'd have collapsed there long ago. They were dead. They were both dead and she'd been the one to do it. If only she hadn't let go of the ground cherry, if only she'd been more patient to see what had been going on, if only she hadn't tripped, hadn't gotten in the way again then everything would be fine. It would've been fine. All of it, fine. But she ruined it. It was not fine anymore and they were going to die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. She was going to be eaten, just like she'd feared. All her nightmares were coming true, her every waking fear a reality. The spirits were going to take one more step closer and open their mouths with their sharp teeth and they were going to tear her and Doumeki apart. Just for being human. A single tear slipped out of Watanuki's eye, her breath hitching one last time before it was all over. She was going to die here with Doumeki, in a strange world surrounded by demons who hated her. She was going to die. Watanuki closed her eyes, not wanting to see when the spirits finally descended on her. She didn't want to see any of it. She just wanted to wake up from this nightmare.

Suddenly, she was being pulled to her feet, a strong hand under her arm pit lifting her up. Her eyes snapped open as her feet hit the ground and she was standing again, next to Doumeki who was saying something to her. She blinked a few times and listened to him.

"Oi! This is no time to be standing around like an idiot." Doumeki said shaking the girl's shoulder, trying to snap her out of whatever slump she'd been in just a second ago.

It had been terrifying to see the spirits turn on them, something that probably had to be the scariest thing that Doumeki had ever seen, that is…until he'd looked down and seen Watanuki. She'd been slumped on the ground from where she'd snapped back to hold the ground cherry, but she seemed to be gone. Like all the life and vitality that had once been Watanuki had disappeared. She'd been about ready to cry, tears welling in her eyes, but her face was blank, her body limp. It was like she hadn't been there anymore. Doumeki realized that she'd shut down in the face of all her fears. She'd lived with the possibility of being devoured by spirits for so long that when she'd finally been confronted with that fear as a reality, she'd chosen not to feel it. She'd chosen to shut it out like a bad dream she just wanted to go away. And that became the most terrifying thing that Doumeki had ever seen. He had to watch the girl he was beginning to love give up on her own life. Faced with death, she'd given into despair. But he wasn't going to. He was going to save Watanuki, no matter the cost.

He'd reached down and pulled Watanuki to her feet, telling her to get a move on and then dragged her through a gap in the demon's circle. Doumeki clutched the ground cherry to his chest, not letting go of it even though its protection was gone. In his other hand was Watanuki's, the one he was clutching tightly as they ran and as she came back to her senses, she squeezed his hand back just as tightly, if not tighter. And she was screaming. As loud as she could by the pitch of it.

"Stop them!" A red-faced demon with huge teeth yelled, stirring up the hoard of spirits as the pair of humans ran through the crowd. They broke through the circle without being caught and Doumeki pulled Watanuki up the path they'd come, running as fast as he could without leaving the girl behind. What they didn't see as they ran up the path was a group of spirits that they knew.

The Karasu Tengu were floating on their little surfboards just off the path, each holding a separate ground cherry and watching Watanuki and Doumeki run past them with the entire demon procession chasing after them.

"Isn't that…?" One started.

"It's that Watanuki chick and some other guy!" Another realized.

"What are two humans doing in a place like this anyway?" Another asked.

"If they're chasing her then she must be the real jerk we always thought she was!" Another stated.

"Looks like she's going to get eaten." Another observed.

"Well, it serves her right." Another nodded. There was a pause as the five Tengu watched the chase. "Do you think we should help the chick? If she gets eaten then _she'll_ cry." The other Tengu looked at the one who'd spoken and then at their leader with the sunglasses.

"Then I guess we have no choice then." The leader said, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Split into two groups men!"

"Right!"

"Get them!" A snake demon shouted, running at the front of the procession. Watanuki and Doumeki were barely hanging onto their lead, running as fast as they could.

"Come back here!" A pink demon elephant trumpeted.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Watanuki screamed. "No way am I going back there!"

"Hey!" The shout distracted the girl and she looked to her left where the voice had come from. It was a Karasu Tengu! The leader by the looks of it and he was flying right next to Watanuki on his board. "This is no place for humans you know." He said.

"Karasu Tengu!" Watanuki shouted, relieved that not every spirit in the parade was trying to kill her. Well, these guys "punished" her, but they never really tried to kill her at least.

"My name is Keith, you four-eyed human freak!" He snapped back. Two other Tengu joined Keith, gliding along just behind him.

"You've got a face that would break glass!" The other sunglasses Tengu taunted.

"And you dress funny!" Another teased. _That's rich coming from them in their blue trench coats and dorky red scarves! _

"Knock it off! Would you just do something to help us?!" Watanuki shrieked, waving an angry fist at the trio. Keith took out his huge paper fan and whacked the girl in the face in retaliation and her rude manners.

"You are in no position to make demands, you freak! We'll end up looking like the bad guys if we end up helping you too directly!" He shouted back to a crying Watanuki. _That's really hurt! _She growled at the Tengu, holding her already bruised nose a second time. "You're going to have to help yourself…IF YOU CAN!" He snapped. Keith then jumped off his board and onto the other sunglasses Tengu's board, leaving his empty. "Go!" He said, flying off with his buddies until they disappeared in the gray sky. The yellow board sank closer to the ground, only a few inches from skidding across the dirt.

"Jump!" Watanuki shouted at Doumeki. She let go of his hand and leapt onto the board, taking the front end and trying to balance herself so she didn't crash the contraption. Doumeki did as he was told and jumped onto the back end of the board, upsetting its balance for just a moment before Watanuki settled it again, holding her arms out to steady herself. Once they were both on, the board flew into the sky, leaving all the running yokai far behind them.

"Get back down here, you cowards!" One of the spirits shouted, as if they would actually do as it said. Watanuki took the board higher and Doumeki looked back to see just how huge the crowd chasing them had gotten as he was keeping a look out for the flying spirits.

"Here they come." He said, drawing Watanuki's attention to the significantly smaller group that was still after them.

The bird spirits and the spirits who could fly were gaining on them, climbing up the sky to catch the pair. Some were birds, some were snakes, and some just had wings, like the blue square spirit with the one eye who was following them. Watanuki screamed again, trying to get higher as a purple bird spirit broke away from the group to give chase. And it was huge! It opened its beak and a second face appeared in the darkness of its throat. Watanuki dodged the bird as it shot past them and then crouched down to dodge a spirit that had a Buddha head but a bird's body. Doumeki crouched with her, holding onto the Tengu's surfboard with his free hand while Watanuki held on with both hands. Flying the board was trickier than it looked and it took almost all of Watanuki's concentration to keep them upright. They dodged a snack spirit but then the square spirit head butted them, sending the board and the humans clinging to it into a spin that took Watanuki a little while to stop. The gray earth and sky tumbled head over heels as they spun, but soon they were upright again and Watanuki's heart dropped out of her throat and back into her chest where it was supposed to be.

They hadn't been caught yet, but in the amount of time it took Watanuki to correct the spin they'd been sent into, a fish spirit had shot ahead of them, stopping and turning around to open its mouth. As Watanuki and Doumeki got close to the spirit, it grew in size exponentially, its mouth able to swallow a house whole, its fangs ready to crush them. Watanuki screamed and veered to the right, the board doing a one-eighty turn as the fish snapped its jaws shut, barely missing the teens. And then the board flipped around again, heading in the direction they'd been going, but now Watanuki's weight had shifted too far forward and the board tipped towards the ground. Watanuki didn't have any purchase on the surfboard and quickly slipped off the end, flailing and screaming as she plummeted to the ground.

Doumeki had been looking behind them, still acting as the look out when he heard the girl scream. His head snapped around and he found himself alone on the board, watching as a terrified Watanuki fell to her death. He couldn't even enjoy the panties shots this time.

"Watanuki!" He shouted, panicking, reaching a useless hand out towards her. She was too far away for him to catch, but he had to try! Doumeki pitched forward into a steep dive, trying to catch up to the seer, getting faster and faster.

Watanuki screamed louder, reach up towards Doumeki, wanting him to catch her, to save her, but she was falling too fast and she knew it. She was going to die today, but not by spirits devouring her. First she'd hit the ground and be crunched into a bloody pulp, all her bones breaking, her skull cracking open like a ripe melon and _then_ the spirits would devour her. The gray sky whizzed past, the clouds streaking by the girl as she fell. Why did she always plummet to her death when the Karasu Tengu were involved?! Doumeki wasn't close enough to grab her and the ground was closing in fast. Watanuki kept screaming, her voice raw from the effort. She reached for Doumeki's hand, but he wasn't going to make it. The ground was closer now, and Watanuki was speeding for her death full throttle. She closed her eyes, squeezing them shut so she wouldn't have to see anything, wouldn't have to see the ground, wouldn't have to see herself and wouldn't have to see Doumeki's face when she crashed. She was falling, there was no stopping that inevitable fate.

And then she wasn't.

The girl oofed as her back hit something solid, but light at the same time. _That definitely wasn't the ground! _The seer's eyes snapped open and she found herself staring up at the sky. She was floating upwards, her fall stopped by a glowing blanket of blue fireflies. Watanuki stared up in shock as she drew closer to Doumeki, who'd stopped his dive as soon as Watanuki had been caught, grabbing onto the back end of the board to balance himself at the tilted angle. They stared at each other as Watanuki passed the archer, the look in both of their eyes reflecting shock and relief back at each other before Watanuki rose higher into the sky. She looked up and spotted Zashiki-Warishi floating mid-air, clasping her hands to her chest as the Karasu Tengu flew around her.

"Umm…hello." The protective sprite said, greeting the girl she'd just saved.

"Zashiki-Warishi…" Watanuki said back, thanking her lucky stars that the sprite had saved her.

"What in the world are you doing here?" Zashiki-Warishi asked. Watanuki sat up on her cloud of fireflies as Doumeki drew level to the girls on the Tengu's board, sitting down and hovering with the ground cherry in his lap. The girl was happy to note that the sprite was still wearing the hair pins she'd given her the last time they'd met, the little white wings holding Zashiki-Warishi's blue hair back.

"Doumeki and I were in the monster procession and they found out that we were human."

"Do-doumeki?" The sprite said slowly, confused. And then something in her brain clicked and she whirled to look at the boy on the board. "Oh! Oh dear! You're the person whose soul I took! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" The sprite bowed in apology.

"It's okay." Doumeki waved his hand in dismissal. Watanuki was surprised that he'd made light of a situation in which he could've died. But then, she'd never seen Doumeki hold a grudge about anything.

"Anyway, it's too dangerous here!" Zashiki-Warishi turned to Watanuki again and held out her hand, blushing. "Come with me and I can take you some place safe!"

"Wow! Thanks a lot!" Watanuki took the other girl's hand and suddenly, Zashiki-Warishi retracted her hand, blushing harder. And that's when the firefly cloud vanished, leaving nothing between Watanuki and the ground.

"Eh…?" The seer said, finding no words in her brain before flapping her arms in an attempt to fly and not almost die for the third time that day. "Ah! Where'd it go!? Where'd it go!? Where'd it go?!" Her hands started grabbing for anything they could to hold on to, grabbing nothing but air over and over again until she caught something solid. "That's not it! That's not it! That's not it! That's not it! That't not it! That's it!" Watanuki hand caught the edge of the surfboard that Doumeki was sitting on, finally catching onto something as she started falling again. Doumeki grabbed onto the girl's wrist, holding her in place as much as he could.

Unfortunately, the seer had unbalanced the board and tipped it forward enough to cause her _and_ Doumeki (who was still holding onto her wrist) to spin head over heels and back into Watanuki's previous fall. The two teens whizzed through the sky again, only this time they were both falling and had virtually no one to catch them. Watanuki screamed her lungs out, her chest aching from the lack of air in her body as she grabbed onto Doumeki's uniform shirt. The archer reached around with his free arm (the other still holding onto the ground cherry) and pulled Watanuki into his chest, putting his back between her and the ground. It wasn't much protection, but at least he could do something before they became road kill.

"Oh my god! You have to save them!" Zashiki-Warishi yelled, calling to her Tengu friends.

"Yes, sir!" They chorused, diving down faster than Watanuki and Doumeki and hovering over the ground as the humans got closer.

"Let's go!" Keith yelled, brandishing his white paper fan.

"Right!" The rest of the Tengu yanked out their fans and held them out in front of them, creating a little net.

"No! Not that way!" Zashiki-Warishi pleaded, but it was too late. As the Watanuki-Doumeki ball of limbs neared the ground, Keith and his comrades angled their fans and hit the pair as hard as they could, knocking the teens forward instead of straight down and sending them rolling across the ground. Doumeki's grip on Watanuki was smacked away by the force of the Tengu's quick save, the girl flying off on her own. Doumeki was lucky he guessed. He landed on his back and butt, sliding with the ground cherry at his chest instead of bouncing like Watanuki did. The girl was the unlucky one in the quick save, rolling and bouncing from one side to the other, bopping her head and then her butt and then her head until she landed on her stomach and slid to a stop with Doumeki. They lay on the ground for a moment, but only a moment before the demons were on them again, surrounding the pair like they had at the tree. And now they were even more pissed because they had to chase their food. Watanuki leapt next to Doumeki, sitting back to back with him as the spirits closed in, baying for their blood. Watanuki shrieked, splitting the ear drums of anyone (or anything) closest to her (including Doumeki).

"Don't hurt them!" Zashiki-Warishi shouted, trying to stop the stampede, but no one paid attention to her. The spirits were five feet away, then four feet, then three feet and then two…one…Watanuki grabbed Doumeki's hand and held it for the last time, squeezing her eyes shut as the spirit's pounced.

"WAIT!" A small voice shouted, breaking through the screams of Watanuki and the yells of the yokai. The demons backed up, surprised that someone among their ranks didn't want them to eat the humans. Watanuki's eyes shot open as she heard footsteps running towards her in the sudden quiet. A path opened up in front of her and she stared down it, trying to see who'd saved them. Doumeki twisted around to look too, still holding Watanuki's hand. She could see someone moving towards them, panting heavily as they ran. It was the little oden fox! He was running towards them in his green kimono and holding a glowing ground cherry just like everyone else!

"It's that little fox!" Watanuki gasped as the fox child stopped running and caught his breath in front of the girl. "From the food stand." The oden fox turned around to address the spirits around him, his little voice trembling slightly in front of such a large group. His little fists were shaking and his tail swished nervously, but he still spoke up.

"Watanuki's really a good person! So I'm begging you to please not eat her!" He shouted.

"A good person?" A gruff voice questioned in the crowd.

"You're lying!" Another accused.

"Prove it!" Another shouted.

"Yeah!" Another agreed.

"She came to my father's shop and said that our oden was really delicious!" The little fox child shouted back. "Besides, he gave me this!" The little fox held up the broken arrow shaft that Watanuki had given him the one that had protective properties. All the spirits around them gasped in surprise.

"An arrow of virtue!" On spirit cried.

"Magnificent!"Another gasped.

"Imbued with the essence of someone pure and noble in spirit!" A third exclaimed.

"It had the power to protect us from any malicious intent!" The fourth spirit's voice sounded a little jealous.

"A remarkable amulet!" A fifth agreed.

"Only a good person would give me such a thing so spare her!" The little fox child pleaded, a sweat breaking out on his fur.

_"__Very well." _A calm, feminine voice said. She spoke so loudly that the whole procession could hear her, but the voice itself was quiet and gentle. Everyone's head flipped around, searching for the voice that came from behind them. It was the tree! The tree was a spirit too! _"__Let us welcome this child of humanity." _The spirit tree's flowers seemed to glow more brightly as she spoke.

"Did it…?" Watanuki whispered.

"Yeah. The tree just spoke to us." Doumeki replied. They were still holding hands, sitting on the ground staring up at the tree. Doumeki looked at Watanuki, her eyes shining in the demon tree's light. "How does it make you feel?"

"I'm not getting a bad feeling." She whispered back. "If anything I'd say it feels…awesome."

_"__That's very flattering, young lady."_ The tree thanked the young girl for her compliment. Watanuki jumped in surprise, never having been thanked by a tree before.

"At least it's modest." Doumeki noted.

_"__Now…you may approach. Bring the ground cherry to me." _It sounded like a command, but at the same time, it wasn't. Watanuki and Doumeki stood up, letting go of each other's hands to do so. Once standing, Doumeki held out the ground cherry in his left hand and Watanuki placed her hand over his, holding on tightly. There was a ghost of a smile on Doumeki's face, but Watanuki didn't see it. They walked towards the spirit tree, its light enveloping them warmly as they approached and stopped near one of the red, glowing blossoms. Doumeki looked at Watanuki for what to do next because she'd been the one to see what had been happening at the spirit tree before she let go of the lantern. Watanuki moved her hand, guiding Doumeki's arm up with hers until the ground cherry was just below the blossom. A small stream of liquid flowed from the blossoms inner light, the golden-amber substance draining into the ground cherry,

"Its smells wonderful!" Watanuki said, smiling as the cherry was filled up with the sparkling liquid.

"What is it?" Doumeki asked, leaning in for a closer look.

_"__This is the nectar that, once a year, only those who make the monster procession may drink." _When the cherry was all the way full, Watanuki let go of Doumeki's hand, letting the archer take possession of the cherry once again before walking towards the fox child. _"__Please, drink with great care. And remember, it is thanks to the little fox that you are able to return with this." _Watanuki stood before the little fox and smiled, kneeling down to take his hands in her own. The little fox's tail wagged and he blushed as the girl thanked him.

"You saved our lives. Thank you very much." Watanuki said, squeezing both of his paws in her hands. He giggled and smiled, too embarrassed and happy to say anything. Watanuki kissed his cheek in gratitude and the fox child's tail bristled into a poof in surprise, his blush deepening as Watanuki giggled at him good naturedly. Doumeki watched the exchanged from a distance, wishing he could have a kiss from Watanuki too. He'd saved her life too…it just wasn't fair. The fox and the girl said goodbye before Watanuki walked over to Doumeki. The archer stared at the girl for a moment and Watanuki stared back, not sure what he wanted.

"What?" She asked cautiously. Doumeki pointed to his cheek.

"Kiss." He said. Watanuki scowled, remembering the last time he'd wanted a kiss on the "cheek" and ended up losing her first kiss to the jerkass.

"No way am I falling for that again!" She snapped, pivoting around so she didn't have to look at his face and folded her arms in a huff. The little oden fox giggled at the pair and so did the Tengu, and Zashiki-Warishi just blushed deeper, being embarrassed for them.

The spirit tree watched the exchange, amused by the two humans before her before speaking, _"__You children have rare, unique spirits. But it will not always be good that is attracted to that energy. You have been through difficult times up 'til now, because you are changing, little by little. Value that transformation, especially those changes made possible by the people you've met." _Watanuki smiled up at the tree, thankful that she had shared her bounty with them.

Then it was time to go. The demon procession making way for the girl and the boy as they walked towards the Karasu Tengu and hopped on a board. Doumeki sat behind Watanuki, his legs straddling the board and he held out his hand to the girl, offering to help her on. Watanuki, begrudgingly, took the hand offered to her and hopped on, swinging her leg over the board and settling down in a straddle. Keith hopped on another Tengu's board and Zashiki-Warishi waited for everyone to get settled before floating into the sky. Watanuki waved down at the little oden fox as they flew away and the fox waved back excitedly, his lantern swaying in the air. Suddenly, Watanuki was distracted by Doumeki's arms around her waist, pulling her back into his chest as they were flying.

"Hey! What are you doing?" They both ended up balanced in the middle of the surfboard, Watanuki basically sitting in Doumeki's lap, his arms wrapped around her and the ground cherry in between her legs.

"So you don't fall off again." He replied, moving his head right next to her ear so that her pony tail would quit whipping him in the face.

"I wasn't going to fall off again!" Watanuki said, blushing at the contact. Her shoulders crept up into her ears, embarrassment plain in her posture, but Doumeki chose not to tease her this time and just guided her to lean back into his chest. Besides, flying was more comfortable this way and he really didn't want Watanuki to fall. "Whatever!" The girl huffed, resting the back of her head on Doumeki's throat so he could rest his head on hers. As they floated along, Watanuki and Doumeki watched the spirit tree glow in the distance, her huge height lighting up the land around her. They flew like that for a while, following the Tengu and Zashiki-Warishi towards a shining portal in the sky. It looked like the moon but as they approached it, the light grew brighter and brighter until it blocked out every other thing.

Watanuki blinked away the sudden light and found herself standing in the park with Doumeki, both of them holding the full ground cherry. Zashiki-Warishi and the Tengu were nowhere in sight. Crickets were chirping in the night, a lone bird letting out a call before falling silent. It was so _normal_. Watanuki couldn't believe that things could be so normal after what just happened, unless the whole adventure was just a figment of her imagination (which it seemed to real to be just something she'd made up).

"We're back." She whispered, stating the obvious. She turned to Doumeki. "That wasn't a dream, was it?" The archer looked down at his watch, the one Watanuki hadn't known that he owned, but did now.

"If it was, then we've been standing here dreaming for nearly eight hours." He replied, looking at the full ground cherry in his hand.

"Gah!" Watanuki looked up at the park's clock, reading the time as five after midnight. No wonder she was dead tired. "I just don't get it" The girl scratched her head. "Why would Yuko give the ground cherry to me?"

"That's an easy one!" Yuko's voice came from behind the girl. Watanuki whirled around to find her boss standing on top of a climbing jungle gym with a slide, wearing a sexy red dress with gloves that was cut so low her breasts almost popped out of the fabric. "It was so that you could get that delicious nectar for me!" The witch crooned with a smiled. Mokona cheered with her as Yuko jumped down and slid down the slide like a five-year-old. As she neared the end of the slide, Yuko's force shot her straight into Watanuki (who was standing at the end of the slide) and the witched used both of her black-heeled feet to kick her slave out of the way, sending Watanuki flying into the sandbox and skidding to a halt in her own little dust cloud with Yuko riding on top of her. On the way down to the sandbox, Yuko had snatched the ground cherry right out from under Doumeki's nose and she sat on Watanuki, snuggling the nectar and rubbing her face against its container.

"The nectar from that tree is incredible! It's far more delicious than any wine or sake that's made in the human world!" The witch blushed in anticipation of drinking such a delightful treat.

"In other words…" Watanuki grumbled, her face planted in the sand. "What you're saying is…"

"Thanks for doing all the dirty work, sucker!~" Yuko and Mokona finished, laughing at the girl.

"Those angry spirits were just about to eat us, you crazy bitch!" Watanuki's fang popped out as she shouted, but Yuko and Mokona just kept laughing. "Ha! Ha! Ha! Very funny!" She retorted angrily in retaliation.

"Come, Doumeki! Join us in a drink!~" Yuko declared, making a ninety degree turn and walking away from Watanuki with a conquering finger pointing the way.

"Yay! Sake!~" Mokona cheered.

"I won't say no." Doumeki said, shrugging and following the witch.

"We brought along a picnic spread and some of Watanuki's delicious, homemade appetizers!" Yuko added.

"Like a buffet! Yay!~" Mokona shouted. Watanuki held up her hands as if she was trying to stop them, but they were already walking away, heading towards the stationary hippo and duck seats that they were going to use as chairs.

"When the tree talked about change caused by certain people I wonder if she meant Yuko."

"Cheers!~" Three glasses clinked together and Yuko, Mokona and Doumeki started partying without the girl.

_Was she talking about the way that Yuko's changed me into her very own personal servant?! _

"Watanuki! You're missing out!" Yuko said, holding up her half empty glass as she called to the seer. Watanuki waved her hand in front of her face.

"You know I can't drink! I'm underage!" She protested.

"This won't make you drunk! It's nectar!" Mokona replied, jumping up and down on the hippo. "Come on!"

"Don't be such a stick in the mud." Doumeki added. That one really pissed Watanuki off. She could handle Yuko making fun of her, she could handle Mokona, but by no means necessary was she going to put up with Doumeki making fun of her. The girl growled, her eyebrows pinching together in irritation.

"If you don't hurry, we'll have to drink it all ourselves!~" Yuko called.

"GAAAAH! Okay! I'll drink! You guys are such a pain!" Watanuki snarled, conceding to drink just a little. The three of them had popped open the ground cherry, pulling out the stem and making a hole in the tope to get to the nectar inside. Yuko held out a glass of the yellow liquid and Watanuki chugged it down, resolutely determined to have just one glass. She deserved it anyway, she's the one who got it!

"Well done, Ms. Stick-in-the-Mud!" Yuko said with a smile as Watanuki finished the glass in one go. The seer felt all warm and tingly inside, the nectar taking the edge off of the girl's tiring adventure. And it really did taste delicious, but the raven really couldn't find a way to describe it.

"Here! Have some more!" Mokona held up another full glass and Watanuki stared at it for a moment, floundering on whether or not she should go back on her decision to only have one glass. But it tasted sooooo goooood! The girl swiped the cup out of the fur ball's paws.

"I will!" Watanuki down the second glass just as quickly and Yuko smiled like a cat who'd just caught a mouse. She was reeling the girl into her trap, trying to see how fast her little slave got drunk and passed out. Doumeki looked at Yuko and Mokona and at Watanuki, figuring out exactly what was going on.

"You're going to hate yourself in the morning," He warned, drinking his own glass. Doumeki had had plenty of experience drinking despite his young age and he knew where Watanuki was headed if she didn't slow down. But he did have to admit, that blush on her face caused by the nectar was pretty adorable.

"Hey! It's nectar!~ I won't get drunk!~" Watanuki said, dancing around happily, completely duped by her employer. "I'll even drink your share!"

"Now, now, Watanuki. You can't take other people's drinks!" Yuko admonished softly as the girl tried to swipe Doumeki's cup out of his hands. The archer was having none of that and just kept it out of reach until the seer calmed down.

"Oh yes I can!~ I'm the one who went and got it after all!" The girl twirled around, the force of her spin lifting up her skirt so that everyone could see her butterfly panties. Doumeki tipped his head to get a better look (Watanuki was providing the view after all) and Yuko and Mokona just laughed at the girl. Watanuki danced off a little into the park, the nectar making her silly, and then danced back, nearly losing her balance as her vision blurred, making the night all soft and fuzzy. "Whoooaaa." She said as she nearly tipped over, righting herself just in time to make it back to the picnic blanket.

"I went with you." Doumeki reminded the girl.

"So what?" She sang, "It was because of _my_ arrow that we were saved so you owwweeee meeee!" Watanuki wiggling around, balancing on one leg as best she could, still feeling silly.

"And who gave that arrow to you in the first place?" Doumeki asked, reminding the girl again that it was him who saved them.

"Ah shut your pie hole, Doumeki!"

"Watanuki! I've never seen you like this before!" Yuko giggled, watching her April fool live up to her name.

"It's only Doumeki so who cares?" Watanuki answered back. Yuko and Mokona just laughed at her. Two glasses later and Watanuki passed out on the blanket, flipping up her skirt in the process off falling down on her face. Doumeki just left it alone and ate and drank quietly with Yuko and the fur ball. Yuko chuckled at her silly girl. A half an hour later when most of the food and been eater and the nectar was almost gone, Mokona was dozing with Watanuki on the blanket, leaning on the girl's back for warmth.

"I guess some people just have no head for nectar." Yuko smiled. The crickets chirped in the paused as Yuko sipped her drink. Doumeki stared at the witch, resting his elbows on his knees while holding his four glass of nectar, leaning over to watch the woman. Something had been bothering him for a while now, and since Watanuki was asleep and he had Yuko alone, he figured that now would be a good time to ask.

"What are you doing here, Yuko?" He asked. "There was no need to you to meet us. Watanuki would've just brought the nectar to your shop. So why were you waiting for us?" Yuko remained silent, her giggly face dropping for her serious one. "It was because I was with her, wasn't it?" Yuko didn't say a word. Doumeki asked the loaded question. "Is there some reason that you don't want me in your shop?"

"You're very perceptive." She said, glancing down at her sixth glass of nectar. Her eyes slid up from the cup and to Doumeki's face. "There's no need to for you to visit my shop. My shop is both of this world…and not of this world. Only those that have a need…are able to cross the rift between worlds and enter in."

"So…you're saying that Watanuki has a need to be there?" Doumeki deduced. Both the witch and the archer looked down at the sleeping girl who looked so peaceful as she lay there quietly.

"Yes. You see, the shop is preparing her for what lies ahead. That's why she came." Yuko paused. "There is no such thing a coincidence. There is only inevitability." She finished, sipping at her drink. They sat in the quiet of the night for a little while longer, the two of them picking at the leftover snacks and listening to the night birds and the crickets. But after a while, Yuko decided it was time to go.

"Doumeki?" Yuko sang, knocking back the last of the nectar in her cup. Mokona had woken up and was hopping its way over to its mistress and jumped onto her shoulder as she sighed in satisfaction at the drink.

"Hm?" He asked, turning his head away from Watanuki to look at the witch.

"Would you be a dear and take our little Watanuki home?" She asked. "Otherwise, I don't think she's moving from that spot. And besides, she's not fit to gallivant around the neighborhood in her state." Yuko pointed to the passed out girl on the blanket. Doumeki looked at Watanuki again. She was lying on her stomach, her legs and arms sprawled every which way and snoring lightly. Her face had the glow of the nectar drink, dusting her cheeks with a very becoming pink. Doumeki had seen a few drunk people in his time and Watanuki seemed like one of those who would be unconscious until morning, no matter who shouted and tossed her around. She wasn't going anywhere without help. Doumeki nodded at Yuko.

"Oh, thanks!" Yuko smiled mischievously. "You're such a gentleman!" The witch winked at Mokona and the fur ball winked back. Doumeki didn't know why they were winking but it couldn't be good. Instead of worrying about it, he just started packing up their late night picnic because Yuko had just poured the last of the nectar into her cup and was swirling it around, meaning that she was almost done. Doumeki carefully placed the nearly empty bento boxes back into their wrapping cloths. Yuko did the same for the cups, sweeping up the rest of the dishes for Watanuki to clean tomorrow. Doumeki rolled the girl off the blanket and both the witch and the archer folded it up before it rested in Yuko's arms. The next order of business was getting Watanuki onto Doumeki's back so he could carry her home.

Doumeki helped Yuko sit the girl up and the witch held her employee's shoulders while Doumeki turned around the knelt with his back towards her, his arms face up and pulled behind him to hold Watanuki's legs. Yuko pushed Watanuki forward until her head was resting on Doumeki's shoulder, her chest against his back and then let Doumeki wrap his arms around her thighs. Yuko finshed off the piggy-back by loosely wrapping the girl's arms around Doumeki's neck, so she'd at least be a little balanced. The archer stood up, bouncing Watanuki lightly once or twice to settle her weight on his back before turning to thank Yuko. The woman picked up everything and Mokona hopped on her shoulder, giving Doumeki directions to Watanuki's apartment in case he didn't know (he hadn't) and after that they strolled off into the night, leaving Doumeki with the unconscious girl.

"Let's get going." Doumeki whispered

Watanuki said something in her sleep, but Doumeki couldn't make out what it was. It was probably gibberish anyway, the girl was so drunk. Doumeki was a little tipsy himself, but not nearly as bad as Watanuki. The world looked at little fuzzy to the archer, the edges of things softening up, but not enough to make him lose his head. He'd be fine in the morning. She however, would have a raging hangover. Douemki took a breath and then started walking out of the park, leaving behind the strange happenings of the day. He walked slowly, so not to wake up Watanuki as she lay against his back. Feeling her weight on him was like a physical reminder that she was still alive and that made Doumeki very happy. He thought back to how many times she'd almost died that day…first with the demons chasing them…then falling off of the Tengu's board…then falling after Zashiki-Warishi's fire flies disappeared…and then when the demons were on them again. Watanuki had almost died two more times that he had, and Doumeki didn't like those odds. Watanuki was a lot of trouble, but she didn't need to be that much trouble. The girl shifted against his back, her arms curling around his neck reflexively as her sleeping body got comfortable being on him. Her arms dropped after a few minutes, tired probably, and Watanuki went back to snoring lightly. Doumeki rolled his eyes at the girl and kept walking.

It took about forty minutes of walking to get to Watanuki's apartment, and by the time he got there, Doumeki was exhausted. His back and butt hurt from all the falling he'd done that day, and his arms ached from carrying Watanuki so far. She wasn't particularly heavy, but after a while on his back, anyone's weight would've hurt. Doumeki looked up at her apartment building, not excited to see stairs. The building looked a little run down, but nice enough. The archer sighed and started walking down the front path and then up the stairs to Watanuki's floor before taking a left, walking down the hall three doors and reaching above the doorframe for her extra key. To this however, he had to let go of one of Watanuki's legs, the girls knee and hip straightening out and tipping her to the right as he reached for the key. The girl's limp body tilted, her right arm slipping off his shoulder and Doumeki started falling with her when she started to drag him now. Doumeki grabbed the key hidden on top of the doorframe and scrambled to catch the girl. He managed to get his hand on her side, pushing against her ribcage until she was straight up and down before he quickly switched his hold and grabbed her right leg again, key in hand. The archer sighed in relief at not having dropped the girl and stuck the key into her doorknob and entering her apartment, locking it behind him.

Inside Watanuki's apartment was dark and Doumeki had to set the girl down on the floor first to take of both their shoes in the _genkan_. While Doumeki was taking off his shoes, Watanuki rolled over, her stocking clad foot smacking him in the face. He was knocked backwards with a grunt and sighed at his classmate. Once Doumeki's shoes were off, he picked up Watanuki in his arms princess-style and walked into her apartment, clicking on a light to see where he was going. Watanuki's apartment was small, but it seemed to be the perfect size for the girl. There was a kitchen and a bedroom and bathroom with its own, tiny bathtub and sink. Doumeki laid the girl down in the living room section of the apartment that he supposed also doubled at her bedroom. Inside, he was surprised to find that their school bags had mysteriously been transported into the apartment, both of the bags sitting next to each other on the floor. Yuko must've done something to get them there. Doumeki ignored them for the moment and went in search of sleeping things. But first, he noticed that a fish bowl sat on the seer's desk, holding the goldfish he'd given her during the last omatsuri. The little fish looked happy in its bowl, swimming around the little castle that Watanuki had purchased as a house and dodging around the fake seaweed and plastic plants. He also saw the hair clips he'd given to her a little while ago sitting next to the fish bowl, their white and yellow tsubaki blossoms bright in the moonlight as well. _She kept them. _Doumeki smiled softly as the fish bowl's water glowed in the moonlight, sparkling off the fish's golden scales. Doumeki turned back to the task at hand and rummaged around in Watanuki's drawers and closets for her futon and spread it out with the pillow and blanket. Next, he found Watanuki's sleeping clothes – a tank top and long pants – and held them in his hands, wondering what to do next.

_We're both filthy and need baths, but I don't think Watanuki would appreciate me giving her a bath. But then the next question is…do I leave her in her school uniform….or do I change her into sleeping clothes? _Doumeki looked at Watanuki, still passed out on the floor. _If I change her, she's going to lob my head off…but I don't think she'd like sleeping in her uniform. What to do…_

In the end, Doumeki decided that he was going to take his chances and change Watanuki into her pajamas. She could smack him for it later. First, he rolled the girl over onto her stomach and unbuttoned her gray uniform jacket. It was quite dirty as he peeled it off her skin, caked with dust and dirt from the monster procession world and from the park. Next, Doumeki unbuttoned the white shirt underneath the jacket and tried not to stare too long at Watanuki's bra (it matched her butterfly panties). The next item to come off was Watanuki's socks and then her skirt and once again, Doumeki tried his hardest not to stare at her panties. It didn't work and he ended up wasting five minutes wondering where the hell she found her cute underwear. Seriously, every time he got a peek at her panties, they were always cute or sexy looking. Doumeki yanked his brain out of the gutter and sighed, deciding that even if he wasn't going to bathe Watanuki, he should at least wipe her off a little bit. Doumeki went into the bathroom and found a pink washcloth that Watanuki had left hanging up with her towel and dampened it with warm water. He grabbed a dry wash cloth on his way out and made his way back to the sleeping girl.

Doumeki knelt next to the seer and started carefully wiping off the girls smudged face, praying that she wouldn't wake up and find him cleaning her. That would probably cause her to throw him out the window, but if she was drunk, she might just pass out again. It could go either way. Doumeki gently wiped her cheeks, nose forehead and ears before working his way down her neck. Watanuki's eyelids fluttered as he started cleaning her off, but she remained asleep. The archer continued to clean ther girl's body, wiping off her shoulders, collarbone and her chest (not lingering too long on her chest) and then continued down her stomach and hips and then cleaned both of her legs and feet. As he was wiping her feet, Watanuki's legs jumped in his hands, and Doumeki realized that Watanuki had ticklish feet and found it kind of adorable, smiling to himself softly, before toweling off the girl just as gently as he had cleaned her off. He then carefully flipped the girl over and wiped off her back so that she was all clean before slipping her into her pajamas. It wasn't as easy as it sounded to get a girl into her tank top and pants, and Watanuki's limp body was not helping at all.

The pants were easy enough; it was just a matter of putting each leg in the correct pant holes and then sliding the cloth up to her hips. Of course, he'd had to shift parts of her body off the floor to slid the pants up, but it wasn't that difficult. The tank top on the other hand, was a bit more difficult. First Doumeki tried to do what he did with the pants, get one arm in each hole, but then Watanuki's head was in the way and went she felt the fabric, she shirt, tossing this way or that in her sleep which made it even more difficult get her top on. This would've been erotic in any other situation, with a half-naked girl rolling on the ground and all but Doumeki was tired and really wanted to sleep. In the end, he sat Watanuki up the best he could against his chest, her dead weight leaning on him as he slid her arms into the arm holes and then popped her head through the top. To finish up, Doumeki reached into the girl's shirt and unhooked her bra, maneuvering the garment down to her hips underneath her tank top and threading her arms out of the straps. The boy laid Watanuki down again and piled all her clothes in the corner of the room.

"Next time, you're dressing yourself." He said. Watanuki just hiccupped in her sleep. Doumeki scratched his head and sighed, unbuttoning his own dirty jacket and shirt, dropping them next to Watanuki's clothes. He took the two wash cloths back into the bathroom and started the shower. He figured that he at least could be all the way clean, even if he couldn't get Watanuki to take a bath. As the water heated up, Doumeki unbuttoned his pants and slid them off along with his underwear and socks, stepping out of the whole pile. He rolled out his sore shoulders and arms, stepping into the spray of the shower. Now, it might seem rude to use someone else's shower without permission, but Watanuki had used the bath at his house before so this was just compensation for that. And really, Doumeki didn't care as long as he got clean and got to sleep.

The hot shower helped loosen all of the archer's muscles and the stress of the day, the alcoholic nectar lulling him into an almost-doze before he realized that he was swaying on his feet. "Get a grip, Doumeki." He said to himself. "You don't want Watanuki waking up in the morning to you knocked out in the shower because you slipped and knocked yourself unconscious." Doumeki quickly finished cleaning himself and stepped out of the shower smelling like jasmine and vanilla, the scent that always lingered on Watanuki's skin from her body wash. He dried himself and shook out his hair, the wet strands sticking up in odd places as they dried. Doumeki hated putting on dirty clothes after having bathed, but he had no choice and slipped back into his boxers. But he did refuse to sleep in his uniform pants. Watanuki would just have to deal with him being half-naked.

As an afterthought, Doumeki went back to Watanuki and shook her shoulder lightly, to see if he could just get her awake for ten seconds. "Watanuki." He whispered. The girl moaned and one blue eye cracked open slightly. She didn't even look coherent, but that's what he wanted. "As my payment for saving you today, I'm staying the night. Is that okay?" He asked.

"Mmmm." She moaned, her eye closing again.

"I'll take that as a yes." He said, letting her sleep, Doumeki picked up Watanuki, and shuffled over to the futon on his knees, lying her down and placing her head on the pillow before covering her up with the blanket. Then he went in search of a second futon, going through Watanuki drawers and closets again before realized that Watanuki lived alone and probably rarely had company, and therefore…she only had one futon. She she was currently sleeping on it. Doumeki groaned, realizing that if he was going to get any decent sleep, he was going to have to share the futon with Watanuki…which she was probably going to tear his balls off for doing. He sighed again and just resigned himself to punishment in the morning. Doumeki righted everything he had touched in the apartment so it was one less thing for her to yell at him for and turned off the light. Doumeki crawled over to Watanuk and the futon and pulled the blanket back. Watanuki shivered at the sudden cold, so Doumeki climbed in quickly, pulling the blanket over them both.

The raven settled down again as their combined heat warmed up the space between them and she snuggled into her pillow. Doumeki laid his head down on his half of the pillow and gazed at the girl in front of him. When she wasn't yelling at him or complaining, she was quite beautiful, her pale skin almost ephemeral in the moonlight, her dark hair falling over her cheeks lightly. Doumeki reached out to run his fingers through her hair when he saw that he'd forgotten to take out her pony tail. The young man reached up and pulled on the blue ribbon bow holding her hair up. It came away with a little resistance, but Doumeki got it undone and Watanuki's hair came out and spread all over her face. Doumeki brushed the strands off of her cheeks and ran his fingers through her hair softly to get most of the knots out of it before resting his hand on the girl's cheek. Her breath ghosted against his tan skin, a sure sign that she was still alive.

"I'm so glad you're safe." He whispered to her, knowing that she couldn't hear him. "I thought you were going to die today, and it really hurt me to think that you weren't going to be around anymore for me to make fun of. Don't do it again. I can't handle you dying." His bronze eyes glowed in the dark, holding more emotion in that moment than he'd ever let them before. Love, fear, worry, affection, protectiveness…they were all there. "I'd never be able to enjoy food again without you. Who'd make my lunch for me?" He whispered, falling back on his monotone, teasing behavior. He just loved to mess with Watanuki. The girl sighed, her forehead scrunching up as she dreamed. Her hand came flying up as she turned over and smacked Doumeki in the face, just like she'd do if he insulted her while she was awake. _Watanuki is still Watanuki, even asleep. _Doumeki rubbed his face, noting that he probably deserved the smack and settled into sleep. He felt Watanuki's hand resting on the futon near his own, and on impulse, he grasped her hand lightly, threading their fingers together just like when they were running from the spirits earlier. "I'm always going to be there for you, Kimihiro Watanuki." Doumeki whispered, hoping that the girl felt like that towards him a little, but he couldn't tell, she was still asleep.

"I love you." He whispered, his eyes closing from exhaustion. Nobody heard his confession but him, even Watanuki's ears were deaf to it as they slept together. She did however, feel a nice warmth beside her, a comforting hand on her own and she smiled sleepily, dreaming of flying through the sky with Doumeki again, riding on the Tengu's surfboard with his arms wrapped around her. It hadn't been a bad experience, just a different one. And if Watanuki was being honest with herself, sleeping or waking, Doumeki wasn't such a bad guy to have around. She was even starting to like him…but just a smidge. But he still annoyed the hell out of her most of the time, but that was just Doumeki. He was like that, just like she was loud and liked to yell a lot. It was just who they were. If only that sentiment translated into reality.

When Watanuki woke up in the morning, all the bubbly feelings she'd had while dreaming popped into the fact that Doumeki was sleeping in her bed, nearly-naked with his arms around her. She blinked her blue eyes a few times, trying to see if the nectar was causing her to see things differently than they were, but nope, there was no way to excuse away the fact that Doumeki's toned chest was right in her face, his arms coiled around her back and she was snuggling into his warmth. The girl blew a gasket.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE?!" She screamed, waking up Doumeki in the most horrific fashion, by smacking him in the face a she yelled him awake and pushed him away. And then Watanuki experienced the symptoms of her first hangover and clutched her head as her loud screams echoed and bounced around in her head painfully, sparking a nasty headache. Watanuki groaned, hating life and tried to look up at the pervert in her bed when she discovered the second symptom of hangovers: sensitivity to light. The sunlight from her open window stabbed at her eyes, sending flashing of pain up into her already aching head and making the whole situation worse. She screwed her eyes shut, diving under the blanket to block out the light.

"Got a hangover?" Doumeki asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He blinked away sleep and was greeted by the sight of Watanuki's butt sticking out from underneath the blanket they'd shared, the girl hidden from the hips up. His vision was blurry and sensitive and he had dry mouth, but he knew how to handle these things. Watanuki didn't and it was painfully obvious that she was hurting.

"I thought you and Yuko said the nectar wasn't alcoholic…" Watanuki groaned.

"That was a lie on Yuko's part. We also told you not to drink so much. You've never been drunk before." Doumeki pointed out, getting up and walking over to the kitchen to looke for two glasses of water and a hope of finding some aspirin for Watanuki's headache.

"You're both bastards. Lying, sneaky, bastards." Watanuki grumbled from under the blanket. "And what are you doing in my house?" The seer's head popped up from under the opposite end of the blanket from where she'd dived in, watching Doumeki with squinty eyes as he walked back into the living area with their water. He placed the girl's glass and aspirin on the floor in front of her and Watanuki watched him carefully as he drank his own water. He was dressed in only his boxers, all his tan, muscled glory staring her right in the face. Doumeki was ripped, no lie, and Watanuki couldn't help but take a peek at his abs and arms. But she couldn't let Douemki catch her doing that and instead, fell back on insulting him by shouting. "And why are you only wearing your underwear?! Put on some clothes!"

"Quiet or you're going to make your headache worse." As he said it, Watanuki was clutching her head again, her skull throbbing from her shout.

"Ow." She moaned.

"Drink." Doumeki said, pointing to the girl's glass of water. Watanuki reached out and sipped at her water, popping the pills into her mouth and then finishing her glass. At least her throat and mouth felt better.

"I carried you home. It was late and I was tired so I asked if I could stay here for the night and you said yes." Doumeki explained in monotone.

"I did?" Watanuki didn't remember that conversation, but then again, last night was a little fuzzy in her brain.

"I also took it as my payment for saving your life yesterday. Twice."

"Twice?!" Watanuki snapped indignantly. "No, it was once!"

"Once with the arrow, and the other was when you were slumped on the ground and I got you moving, or else you would've been eaten." Doumeki argued with his blank face. "Twice."

"Whatever." She mumbled. There could be worse ways to wake up. She'd just wish he'd put on some clothes.

"So…what's for breakfast?" Doumeki asked, his stomach grumbling.

"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE, YOU FREELOADER!" Watanuki yelled in response.

"Headache." He reminded her.

"Ow." She moaned, hating her life. _Why can't he just leave me alone?!_

"Told you."

"Shut up!" The raven grumbled. "Go put on some clothes before I call the police on you!"

"Hm." The archer replied, standing up to go put on his dirty uniform. Watanuki groaned to herself. She was all hot and flustered at having a very cute boy in her house…_alone_…_all night_…with _her_. If felt really weird to have a boy in her house, (to have anyone over actually) and she just wanted him to go away before she said something embarrassing and dug herself into a hole like she was prone to do. Watanuki peeked out from under her blanket, taking a quick glance to watch Doumeki step into his pants and pull them up, the dark cloth an excellent contrast for his skin. _Why am I thinking like this?! I don't like this jerk! What is wrong with me?! _Her heart was beating rapidly, her breath shortening as she watched the man she supposedly hated getting dressed right in front of her before heading into the bathroom to brush his hair or go to the bathroom or whatever. But he still hadn't put a shirt on! Watanuki was nervous, but in the lovey-dovey sort of way and not the fearing-for-my-life sort of way. _Do I…like Doumeki? NO WAY!" _The girl shot up, a deep blush coating her cheeks as she scrambled around her apartment for something to distract herself from the fact that Doumeki was in her house, Doumeki was using her bathroom and Doumeki had been sleeping with her up until a few minutes ago (but not like…_sleeping_ sleeping, just regular sleeping…right?). That thought, that maybe a drunken Watanuki had done something unspeakable with Doumeki last night stalled the girl's brain, tripping up her feet and causing her to crash into a wall, efficiently stopping her mad scramble for a distraction.

Doumeki poked his head out of the bathroom and spotted Watanuki on the floor, curled up in a ball as she clutched her head for entirely different reasons than her headache.

"You okay?" He asked.

"NO! I am _not_ okay!" The girl growled, thankful that her arms hid her blush. _How could I ever think that I had done…done…arg! With Doumeki of all people! It's impossible! Impossible! _

"You're too loud. And angry." Doumeki replied, walking out of the bathroom.

"Of course I'm going to be loud!" Watanuki huffed, sitting up and rubbed her sore forehead from where it made contact with the wall, the huge red mark on her skin getting bigger from her rubbing. "I woke up in my house with no recollection of how I got here, dressed in different clothes that you probably dressed me in and sleeping next to you! Of course I'm going to be loud and angry!"

"Did you not like me sleeping over?" Doumeki asked, wanting an honest opinion, leveling his bronze eyes at her.

"Well, it wouldn't be such a problem if I knew what we'd done after…after…" Watanuki's brain dropped into the gutter and she just had to ask, no matter how embarrassing it was. She had to know. She had no recollection after the park party, none whatsoever and it's not that she didn't trust Doumeki – she trusted him enough to know that he'd keep her safe – but…if they had done _something_ like…_that_…then she needed to know. Drunk people did crazy things all the time! So how was she supposed to know what she had done when she couldn't remember anything?! "D-d-did…w-we…" She pointed to Doumeki's bare chest and then pointed to hers before wrapping her arms around herself. "Do…any of…_that_?" Silence ensued for about thirty seconds before Doumeki rolled his eyes and huffed.

"Do you really think so low of me that I would take advantage of an unconscious woman?" He said, a tiny bit of anger leaking into his voice as he stared hard at the seer.

"No!" She argued immediately, abating some of Doumeki's suspicions about what the girl actually thought about him. "I-I-I j-just…" The girl trailed off, blushing like crazy and curling into herself.

"Just what?" He asked, wanting to get all of Watanuki's weirdness about him out in the open before she did something stupid and before he did something stupid that ruined their relationship. If she had a problem with him, then he wanted to know about it _now_. "What is it, Watanuki? Do you have a problem with me?"

"No! I-I-I j-just…I don't open up myself to anyone like this!" Watanuki blurted out, yelling almost as loud as when she'd woke up. The girl winced as her head throbbed, but she didn't grab her head this time. She stared at Doumeki and suddenly, he could see so many kinds of emotions swirling in those big, blue orbs. Embarrassment…fear…caution…and a want to…to…what? He couldn't figure out that. Obviously she was struggling with something and she looked ready to let it all out. So he just looked back at her, waiting for the girl to let her mouth run away with her like it did so often. And it did.

"Doumeki…I don't have people over, I don't let people in my house…people usually don't want to associate with me because I'm the freak." Watanuki revealed. "I was the odd kid in school who claimed she could see spirits and that distanced people from me. Until I met Yuko, Wari and you…I didn't have any friends…I had no one." Doumeki listened to the girl's confession of sorts, touched that even though he bugged her and she annoyed him, she still considered him a friend. "So to have someone in my house, without my permission, and have them stay the night, go through my things and even dress me…"Watanuki hugged herself again, as if she was trying to cover up the insecurities that she was whispering to him. "You've _seen_ everything." Watanuki didn't speak for a moment and then suddenly, her head snapped up.

"You didn't see me naked, did you?!" And suddenly the serious atmosphere was gone, whisked away by Watanuki's panic. She'd noticed her bra-less state "You stared, didn't you?!" She snapped, back to her normal self.

"You were staring." Doumeki said, pointing out that he had caught the girl looking at him while he was changing. Watanuki's blush deepened as she realized she'd been caught spying on him, the redness spreading down her neck and Doumeki decided that he liked her like that…it was cute.

"I-I…whatever!" Watanuki huffed, brushing the whole conversation under the carpet. She cast her eyes around the room for a distraction, anything to get away from her awkwardness and Doumeki's bare chest that was staring her in the face. Seriously, it was _very_ distracting. Watanuki caught sight of Doumeki's dirty pants and jacket and decided on a course of action. "You can't wear those clothes outside until they've been cleaned. There's a washer and dryer downstairs and to the right where you can wash your clothes." The girl strode past Doumeki and walked into a little hallway past the bathroom. She opened a closet and started rummaging around in it.

"But what will I wear down there?" Doumeki asked, being practical. If he was washing his clothes, he certainly wasn't wearing them and he didn't thing that Watanuki would appreciate that considering how badly she acted when he was in his boxers.

"This!" Watanuki said as she yanked on something wedged in the closet. It popped out unexpectedly and sent the girl sprawling on the floor as a storage box knocked her in the head. "Ow!" Watanuki rubbed her head and picked up the box, prying off the lid. The girl left the box on the floor and knelt down beside it. She carefully pulled out a light green yukata with feathers embroidered on it in black and gold. It definitely wasn't Watanuki's, it was too big and broad for the seer's slight frame and clearly sized for a man. But who's what is? Watanuki lived alone.

"A man's yukata?" He asked, puzzled.

"Would you rather wear one of mine?" Watanuki retorted, standing up and holding out the garment to Doumeki. "It was my dad's before…" She trailed off and just shoved the _yukata_ into his chest. "Just wear it! I'm going to take a shower so don't you even think of peeking!" She knelt down and repacked the box and placed the lid on it before whirling away, grabbing a pair of casual clothes to go to Yuko's shop since they didn't have school and slammed the bathroom door behind her. Doumeki just watched her do it, holding the old _yukata_ gently in his hands. He had never heard Watanuki talk about her parent's before and it was apparently a topic that was not open to discussion by the way Watanuki had closed it so quickly. Still, it was generous of her to let him wear something that was precious to her. Wherever her father had gone, Watanuki had taken good care of his things for him, judging by the cleanliness of the garment and the careful way it was packed into the storage container.

Doumeki smiled to himself and set the yukata down on Watanuki's desk before stripping out of his pants and boxers. He threw his dirty clothes with his jacket, shirt and socks in the corner and unfolded the robe Watanuki had lent him carefully before slipping his arms through the sleeves, folding the garment closed and securing it with the tie. Whoever he was, Watanuki's father was just about Doumeki's size, maybe slightly smaller, so the robe fit nicely. Doumeki was sure to be careful with it as he picked up his dirty clothes. He could hear the water in the shower turn on in the bathroom and thought about peeking…but then thought better of it and just went to wash his clothes.

"There's detergent under the sink!" Watanuki called, popping her head out of the bathroom door. Doumeki turned around to acknowledge that he'd heard her but he concluded that Watanuki hadn't been expecting him to still be in the room or expecting him to turn around if he had been in the room because the door was open a lot more than it should've been and Watanuki was the shirtless one this time. They stared at each other for a split second (and actually, Doumeki's eyes were drawn to the seer's bare chest) before Watanuki exploded.

"YOU PERVERT!" Several hair brushes and a bucket of hair ribbons flew at the teen as he ducked for cover, but Watanuki did get in a few hits before slamming the door shut in his face. Doumeki walked calmly outside, savoring the memory of Watanuki half-naked that he would treasure for years to come while he went to wash his clothes. Doumeki walked down the stairs and found the washer and dryer in a community room and luckily for him, no one else was around doing their laundry. Doumeki separated out his whites and darks and started his first load of clothes, taking advantage of Watanuki's detergent. Them the archer decided that he'd better stayed out of the girl's apartment while she showered (because she actually might find something more dangerous to throw at him if she got made again) and spent about an hour outside washing and drying his school uniform, fiddling with the cloth of Watanuki's father's yukata, and wondering if someday he might hear the whole story about what happened to her parents.

When his clothes were dry, Doumeki walked back upstairs and knocked on Watanuki's door.

"Come in." She said through the door and Doumeki let himself in. The girl was out of the shower and dressed in slacks and a long sleeved V-neck shirt in a very becoming blue. She was in the kitchen, her hair let loose as she cooked up a simple breakfast of rice, fish and miso soup. For two, he might add. Doumeki walked in and before he could say anything, Watanuki was talking again. "There's an ironing board in the closet if you want to press your uniform." She said, not turning around. Doumeki nodded (even though she couldn't see it) and went to iron his uniform before putting it on.

Watanuki hadn't turned around because she was still blushing like an idiot from what had happened earlier. _How could I have been so stupid! Have all that talk I said about not exposing myself I really went and did it! He just had to be in the room when I stuck my head out of the bathroom! _Watanuki growled to herself and flipped the fish grilling on her stove. _Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! _She chastised herself mentally for about the thousandth time, finishing up breakfast and setting the table for two. _Just calm down. Doumeki probably won't mention it…at least I hope he won't! _

Said boy walked in after a few minutes, dressed neatly in his clean uniform and sat down at the table, waiting for Watanuki to join him. The girl sat down, twiddling her thumbs nervously.

"If that ever happens again – and by _that_ I mean you staying over – (which it won't) you can wear my father's _yukata_. I don't ever want to wake up to you in your underwear again!"

"Never?" Doumeki asked, picking up his bowl of rice.

"Never, you pervert!" Watanuki snapped, blushing deeper. Doumeki didn't reply, knowing that Watanuki was just acting so strict because she was embarrassed and nervous about everything that had happened that morning. So he decided to fluster her some more, just for fun.

"You're pretty. You should really be more confident about your body." Doumeki teased in his monotone. Watanuki balked at his comment, gaping at him as he ate some rice and sipped at his soup. A shiver traveled up her spine as Doumeki commented on _that_ moment and she was so humiliated that she did something that Doumeki considered quite inhuman. She kicked him out right in the middle of breakfast, throwing his school bag and shoes out after him.

"GET OUT!" She yelled, growling at her companion on her doorstep.

"But what about breakfast?" He asked, his stomach growling at only having consumed half of Watanuki's wonderful cooking.

"GO FIND SOME YOURSELF!" The door slammed in Doumeki's face and the boy was left outside all alone, wondering what she was going to do with the extra food from breakfast.

By the time Watanuki got to Yuko's shop later that morning, she was in such a weird mood. She was embarrassed that Doumeki had seen her half-naked, unsettled that he'd just invited himself into her house and rummaged through all her stuff while she was passed out, but grateful that he'd taken such good care of her while she had been unconscious. All those emotions – plus about fifty more – roiled around inside of her when she entered the shop. Yuko was standing in the hallways when the girl looked up from taking her shoes off, an evil grin of her face as she toyed with her pink kimono's sashes. Mokona was sitting on her shoulder, an identical look on its face.

"What?" Watanuki asked, praying that the witch didn't have some impossible task for her to complete today. In fact, what the woman had in mind was much, much worse.

"Did someone have a good night?" Yuko sang ominously, her grin widening.

"And a good morning?" Mokona teased heartlessly. Watanuki's face paled, knowing that they had somehow known exactly what had happened that morning. They knew, and they were going to exploit that information mercilessly, making the seer's life a living hell. And then Watanuki realized that if they knew what had happened, they must've had a hand in setting up the situation in the first place, that's just how Yuko and Mokona operated.

"You set me up!" The raven accused, trying act mad and superior to their tricks, but the effect was undermined by her deep blush returning to her cheeks.

"Maybe!~" Yuko sang, clapping her hands joyfully.

"No maybe not!~" Mokona added, jumping up and down.

"Which is it?!" The girl snapped as she leapt into the hallway and advanced on the pair.

"We're not telling!~" They crooned, running away from the wrathful seer as she chased them down the hallway, baying for blood.

"Tell me which it is and your might be able to keep your limbs!" Watanuki shouted, grabbing at Yuko's kimono and missing.

"I'm not telling!~" Yuko giggled, dodging the girl's claws. "But I do hope that Doumeki enjoyed the show you put on, you naughty girl! And the show he put on for you! Naughty boy!"

"I'm going to kill you!" Watanuki snarled, her blush turning an angry red. The rest of the morning and a good part of the afternoon was spent hunting Yuko and Mokona down and the rest of the afternoon was spent putting the shop back together after Watanuki had calmed down and stopped her rampage of destruction. But she still didn't escape the teasing Yuko and her fur ball relentlessly subjected her to and in the end, she was contemplating the best place to hide their dead bodies so that nobody would ever find them again. And if Doumeki breathed a word of what had transpired that morning to _anyone_, he'd find himself in the same place.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Snow drifted down from the gray sky over Tokyo, blanketing the city in a layer of white that would soon turn gray in the street, muting the constant noise of cars and people for just a moment. It was freezing outside, and yet, Yuko was still sitting out on her porch at a single table with sake and snacks, watching the snow fall around her. It was so calming and peaceful to view the first heavy snowfall of the season. There had been other snowfalls, but they hadn't lasted long and the snow had soon melted into slush that turned gray and black as the streets, but this snow was different…it would stay white for a long time as it piled up on the ground. So peaceful and quiet. Yuko sipped at her sake in her purple, smoke-embroidered kimono and let a soft, chilly breeze run through her high pony tail. The only thing that wasn't peaceful and quiet was her little servant standing behind her with broom in hand, smock on and hair tied back in her handkerchief. The contents of Yuko's storehouse were laid out all across the room (since the girl obviously couldn't put them outside like she'd normally do) and the eclectic collection of strange and ordinary objects were in for the cleaning of their life…_again_.

"Ug. No matter how much I clean this place just seems to get dirtier. You're really going to have a mess to take care of at the end of the year." Watanuki sighed. "You need to keep all your stuff organized on a daily basis…hey Yuko! Are you even listening to me!?" The girl turned to glare at her employer's laziness.

"Hm?" Yuko hummed, holding out her glass for Mokona to pour her another drink. "I'm not going to be the one who has to deal with it." She admitted.

"Hmmmm." Mokona hummed, pouring itself another glass of sake as well. "Watanuki's going to have to deal with it!~"

"It's Watanuki's job!~" Maru sang.

"It's Watanuki's job!~" Moro repeated. The twins were sitting on the edge of the porch, their feet dangling off the edge. They were both wearing the warmer versions of their angel and devil outfits, their skirts a little longer, their sleeves fell to their wrists and they were both wearing knee high socks. They smiled at Watanuki, their teasing grins cute and annoying at the same time.

"And what do you think you're doing?! Drinking in the afternoon!?" Watanuki stomped over to Yuko's table, choosing to ignore the twins because if she got mad at them, they'd just think it was funny and run away like she was playing a game.

"Why not?" Yuko asked, leaning back in her chair. "When its night you drink and enjoy the moonlight, and when it's snowing you drink and enjoy the snow. Isn't it obvious?" She said it as if everyone drank twice their weight in alcohol every damn day.

"Yeah, yeah. Of course. What was I thinking?" Watanuki sighed and pivoted around, dejectedly leaving Yuko to her own devices. There was no arguing with her when she got like this...actually…there was no arguing with her period. Yuko always got what was due her, even when it came to bossing Watanuki around. Watanuki went back inside to start cleaning; taking off her head cloth and tying it around her mouth like a surgical mask so she didn't inhale dust and suffocate. She took up her duster and whacked it against several boxes to dislodge the grim coating them. "Ug. She can always find a reason to drink." The girl grumbled. Just then, she hit a box just a little too hard and it started to tip backwards off the pile of boxes. Watanuki dropped her duster and snatched up the box before it could fall (because if she broke whatever was inside it, Yuko would make her pay for it in horrible ways), precariously leaning over the other objects of the storehouse as she got her balance back. It was heavier than she expected so it took a few moments for the seer to stand up straight, but she did it and went to ask Yuko what was inside that made it so heavy.

"Hey, Yuko!" The raven called, walking up to the witch. Yuko looked over, her cup still at her lips. "Look at what I found." Watanuki was holding the box in her arms, showing Yuko.

"Ah. I almost forgot that I had that old thing still lying around." Yuko set down her cup and placed her chin in the palm of her hand.

"Me too!" Mokona agreed.

"It certainly brings back memories!" Yuko shook her head, smiling and reminiscing about something that Watanuki didn't know about. It kinda ticked her off that she was the one who found it and yet, wasn't getting an answer as to what was inside the damn thing.

"Those sure were the good old days!" Mokona agreed. Yuko stopped talking, and looked out over the snow, her eyes staring into the middle distance.

"Stop reminiscing!" Watanuki growled, wanting to know what was inside. She started to claw at the lid trying to get the thing open. "I'm just going to pry this thing open and see for myself! If it's something useless, I'm getting rid of it!" As hard as she pulled, the lid wouldn't come off. Watanuki sank to the floor, trying to see if she could use both her hands to get it off instead of just one like she'd been attempting to do while she'd been standing.

"I guess I'm okay with that. Have fun." Yuko said slyly, watching the girl struggle with the box. "Of course, you should know that the box will only open once a certain condition has been met."

"Like what?" Watanuki stopped trying to get the box open and looked up at her boss.

"Who cares?" Yuko held up her empty sake glass. "I need another hot sake."

"Another sake!" Maru sang, standing up.

"Another sake!" Moro sang, taking her place next to her twin.

"And get me another barley _shōchū_ and water!" Mokona ordered (5).

"Shōchū and water!~" Maru repeated, swinging her arms into the air.

"Shōchū and water!~" Moro repeated back, swinging her arms in the opposite direction.

"And go ahead and make it a double!" Mokona added. "And while you're in the kitchen, get me a dish of sour plums on the side!"

"Sour plums!~ Sour plums!~ Sour plums!~" The twins sang, dancing back and forth and continuing their chant while Yuko talked.

"I'm feeling peckish too! How about some boiled tofu?" The witch suggested, smiling.

"Boiled tofu!~ Boiled tofu!"~

"Yeah! Great idea!" Mokona agreed.

"Hold on!" Watanuki stood up and glared at the four people ordering her around. "I'm in the middle of a major house cleaning here! What kind of slave driver are you?!" She growled.

"Well, that's the way it goes." Yuko replied. "Life is all about being flexible, you know." Watanuki clenched her fists, trying to control her anger but failing miserably. "Now…why don't we hurry up with those snacks?" Yuko teased.

"GAAAAAH! You're being so unreasonable!" She screamed, throwing her hands in the air and running towards the kitchen. The rest of the day was spent ping ponging from cleaning to getting snacks to cleaning to making dinner to cleaning to preparing an after dinner snack to cleaning to gathering an after dinner after snack snack to cleaning to grabbing late night drinks to putting away everything that got cleaned to grabbing one last round of drinks and snacks before throwing a spatula at Yuko and Mokona and running out of the shop screaming at their behavior.

When she woke up the next morning, Watanuki was surprised to see that the snow had continued all night, piling up at least a foot and a half high. She got dressed quickly for school, throwing on her shirt, gray jacket, skirt, shoes and socks before shrugging on her cream winter coat and wrapping a blue scarf around her neck. She ran through the new-fallen snow and kicked up her own clouds of white on the way to school. By the time she reached the entrance, Watanuki's face was red from the cold, her hair was in disarray from running and her mouth was smiling like an idiot. She walked into the school and spotted Wari and Doumeki and went to join them.

"Wow! I can't believe it ended up snowing all night!" Watanuki said in awe, looking outside of the school's windows. She was in the front locker room where everyone was taking off their outside shoes and putting on their school shoes (6). She opened her locker to switch out her shoes, when she noticed a note in there already. Watanuki's brain went into hyper-speed, thinking about the implications of the note. First, the note could be a love confession (because that's just how people did it) and second, if it was that was horrible! Wari was standing right in front of her and would get the wrong idea that someone liked her when she really liked Wari! Third, if it was a love confession, it could be in the wrong locker…yeah, definitely the wrong locker. And fourth, it could be something completely unrelated to a love confession...but that wasn't likely with Watanuki's luck. The raven snapped her locker shut, her gloved hand keeping the door shut and she hoped that Wari and his cute face hadn't see it. No such luck.

"Watanuki! Is that a love letter in your locker?" Wari said, smiling. The seer's crush was looking especially cute today with his curly hair all tousled from the light snowfall outside. He was wearing the boy's winter coat over his uniform just like Doumeki, the long jacket falling nearly to his ankles which made him look sophisticated…he was practically a gentleman. Doumeki on the other hand, just looked like an idiot in Watanuki's opinion (even if he looked very dashing as well, despite the girl's denial). Watanuki blushed, cursing her bad luck and the letter, whoever it was from.

"Oh, no! That's absolutely impossible! No way, no how!" Now that the letter had been seen, there was no hiding it so Watanuki just opened up her locker to take the letter and burn it before anyone else saw it when the damn thing started flapping and flew right out of the locker! Watanuki gasped and dodged the flying piece of paper as it dove towards the floor and then flapped up past Doumeki's face and fell into Watanuki's gloved hands. The girl opened the note and it read: You lost. And that's when Watanuki figured out who the note was from. Yuko. She leaned against the lockers, her arm covering her face. "I feel weak."

"Hey look! I think there's something written on the back." Wari pointed out. Watanuki looked down at the note and saw more writing and began to read.

"'Dear Watanuki, I had a wonderful idea for something really fun to do! So come to the park first thing after school today. Bring Doumeki, and of course, Wari! Yuko.'" Watanuki gave the note a skeptical look. "What is this?"

"It's from Yuko, right?" Wari asked. "Well, isn't that nice!"

"Yeah…nice and suspicious." Watanuki scowled. "She had that smug little I-know-something-you-don't-know look on her face last night." Watanuki started fanning herself with the note, keeping up her miniature rant. "I'm pretty sure this is just one of her little sneaky tricks she's always playing on me." Watanuki opened up the note again to make sure that she'd read everything, but when she did the note on the inside had changed to: What do you mean you're "pretty sure?! Yuko." Watanuki yelped and threw the note in the air, startled by whatever magic Yuko had used to change the words. "How does she do that?!"

"It sounds like fun! I think we should go!" Wari said as Watanuki reached down to pick up the note.

"Hm?" The girl asked, confused as to why Wari would agree to play Yuko's little game.

"I'm in." Doumeki concurred.

"Wah?" Watanuki gaped her classmate. _Why is this happening?! Why are they agreeing to go?! _All day long, Watanuki puzzled over the note and why Wari and Doumeki wanted to go to the park without knowing what was going to happen. Frankly, Yuko's ideas terrified the girl and she wasn't sure she wanted to participate in the first place. But, despite her apprehensions, they ended up at the park after school anyway.

"I've got a bad feeling about this." Watanuki said as she trudged behind Wari and Doumeki as they made their way down the sidewalk. The park that Yuko had picked was the Third City park (which happened to be the park that all their supernatural encounters happened at now that Watanuki thought about it) and as the trio walked through the snow Watanuki spotted a black fur ball with a Santa cap on.

"Huh? Mokona?" The girl asked as the three of them stopped in front of the Mokona's rock.

"Oi, Watanuki!" The creature raised one paw in greeting. "Born on April first! That makes you an April Fool!"

"HA! HA! Like I've never heard that one before!" Watanukki growled, baring her fangs at Mokona. "Can you give that joke a rest already, you floppy little fur ball!?"

"We weren't expecting you, Mokona." Wari said, addressing the creature. "Did Yuko ask you to come as well?"

"Yep!" Mokona folded its arms.

"Stupid little pork bun!" Watanuki hissed. Something bright caught the girl's attention to her left and she looked around Doumeki and Wari to see what it was. Ame-Warishi's bright red hair stood out in the white expanse of the field, and she was dressed in her usual Loli Goth manner. This time it was a purple dress with fur on the cuffs and hem, paired with a light purple shawl with fur and white pom poms. Watanuki sighed as she looked at the sprite. "Don't tell me she invited you too?"

"Do you know this girl, Watanuki?" Wari asked. It suddenly occurred to Watanuki that Wari hadn't met the rain sprite during the hydrangea incident and Watanuki herself was alone the last time they'd met on the mountain, which was weird because everyone else knew the sprite.

"Uh huh." Watanuki said, nodding. Wari bowed to the sprite and introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Wari."

"Yeah, hi." Ame-Warishi nodded. "Cripes, what a pain. I can't believe I let you drag me to a place like this." The rain sprite looked behind her. Watanuki glanced in the same direction as Ame-Warishi, but she couldn't see anyone there. That is, until Zashiki-Warishi popped out from behind the red head's back clad in her own bright pink coat and yellow mittens. Watanuki hadn't even know she was there hiding behind her – and how did she do that anyway? It had looked like Ame-Warishi was the only one who'd been standing in the snow, but Zashiki-Warishi had been there the whole time! Watanuki hadn't even seen a second pair of legs in the snow!

"Um…hi." Zashiki-Warishi said, waving at the trio.

"So you came too?" Watanuki asked, smiling and taking a few steps closer to she could hear the quiet sprite.

"Y-yes…we were invited." Zashiki-Warishi blushed, still hiding behind her friend.

"Well, that's great." Before the conversation could go any further, Yuko made her grand entrance.

"Heeeey!~ Well, it looks like everyone made it, huh?" Yuko sang, calling to the group down below from her perch on top of a huge pile of boulders that looked like a mountain in the middle of the park. She was standing on the highest rock, arms crossed over her chest and wearing a dress that Watanuki had just dubbed her "Slutty Santa" outfit. Basically, the red dress had white fur trim on the hem of the skirt, the cuffs of her draped sleeves and around the hood framing her face. What made the whole outfit slutty was, however, was the fact that almost all of her chest was exposed, her boobs nearly popping out of the fur trimmed bodice.

"Yuko!" Watanuki yelled, stomping over to the edge of the iced-over pond Yuko was towering over. "It's about time you showed up! Now what's the big idea of dragging us all out to the park in the snow?!"

"Now that's a good question." Yuko said, turning to the side. She then struck a flamboyant pose (like the ones you'd see in anime and manga), pointing a commanding finger down at Watanuki from the top of her tower, her other hand on her hip. "To be brief…a snowball fight!"

There was a moment of silence where nobody said a word because it was all ridiculous. The chilly winter wind whistled by for a moment, filling in the quiet. If anyone had been watching from a distance, they would've seen an eclectic group of kids and one stuffed animal looking up at a strange woman pointing down at them. That woman spoke first, pushing an excited fist out in front of her.

"Hooray…" She whisper-cheered, the exclamation dying out with the wind. Another moment of silence passed.

"HUH?!" Watanuki said back.

"A snowball fight!~ A snowball fight!~ A snowball fight!~ Hooray!~" Mokona cheered, leaping across the snow, up the pile of boulders and jumped up to high-five the witch as if they'd planned it all out. Yuko high-fived back confidently, a smirk on her face as someone (or thing) got on board with her plan.

"No." Watanuki sweat dropped, watching the crazies have their fun. "I'm too old for these games."

"Now, you're never too old for a good old-fashioned snowball fight." Yuko admonished the girl. "Besides, you'll learn that some games are much more fun when you're all grown up." Yuko said slyly, raising up the back of her hand to cover her mouth seductively. Watanuki gasped, her face blushing deep red as she thought through the implications of what Yuko was saying.

"N-n-now wait a minute!" Watanuki said as her heart beat grew louder in her ears, her rapid pulse generating from her embarrassment and curiosity at what Yuko was saying. She was trying to figure out if Yuko was just talking about children's games being fun as an adult, or if she was talking about "adult play." Like…oh, she didn't even want to think about doing _those_ things with so many people around her. "You're not talking about what I think you're talking about, are you?"

"Probably not!" Yuko said teasingly. Watanuki flopped right into the snow, completely humiliated at the hands of her boss and she'd probably just embarrassed herself in front of her friends, her crush and the guy who wouldn't leave her alone.

"Well, whatever your game is we're not playing!" Watanuki yelled back, standing up and beginning to stop away to someplace warm. "You two people can play your game. Well, it's like one person and one animal!" Watanuki poked at the fur ball with her snide remark.

"Mokona is not an animal!" The pork bun yelled back, jumping up and down. "Mokona's a Mokona!"

"Yeah, whatever." Watanuki threw over her shoulder. "Come on guys, let's get out of here." Wari and Doumeki looked at each other, silently deciding to throw a wrench in Watanuki's plans.

"I think it sound like a lot of fun." Wari said. The seer came sliding back into the picture, falling into the snow for the second time in as many minutes.

"What about you?!" Watanuki snapped at Doumeki, popping up from the ground with a pile of snow on her head and shoulders. Doumeki didn't reply verbally, he just held up his hands…clad in pink mittens with red flowers on them. "Don't tell me you want to do it too?! And by the way you're gloves are totally lame!"

"They are? My mom had an extra pair so I let him borrow them." Wari said sadly. "I guess they're not as cute as I thought they were." Watanuki face dropped as she realized that she'd insulted her crush's mom's mittens. The girl giggled nervously.

"No, no! The mittens are cute! They're totally, flawlessly, perfectly cute! So cute!" The girl went on and on but nobody was really listening to her any more.

"What do you think?"Ame-Warishi asked her friend, turning around to look at the protective sprite. "Do you want to stick around or do you want to hit the road?"

"Um…ah…well…I kinda…" Zashiki-Warishi started, never really getting a full sentence out as she hid behind her yellow mittens (with the _cute_ pink bunnies on them if anyone ever asked Watanuki what she thought of the mittens) and blushed.

"Alright." The rain sprite sighed. "I guess since we came all the way down here we might as well stay."

"Oh, thank you!" Zashiki-Warishi hugged her friend. Watanuki growled and started stomping in the snow because her plans of leaving were now ruined.

"YUUUUKKKOOOO!" Watanuki screamed. "You're not serious about this are you?!"

"But of course!" The witch smirked. "And I even brought a grand prize for today's winner." Yuko reach behind her skirt and flamboyantly presented the box that Watanuki had found in the storeroom the day before.

"Wait…that's the…" Watanuki started. Wari just looked at the box and Doumeki was still holding up his hands, displaying his pink mittens for all the world to see. Yuko set the box down on top of her mountain and slapped on of her hands on it.

"A magic treasure box that will grant anything the winner might wish for!" She declared.

"Did you say…anything?" Watanuki asked taking a few steps closer. "ANYTHING?"

"That's right!" Yuko took a few steps down her mountain so that she could rest her elbow on the box so she could rest her cheek on her elbow. "Of course, no one can open the magic box except the winner of the snowball fight." Yuko explained.

"That is sooooo unreasonable!" Watanuki scoffed. "Of course," she mused, "That explains why it wouldn't open up yesterday. Ooookaaaay…I'm gonna win and wish for something out of that box that's gonna prevent Yuko from pushing me around ever again!" As she spoke, Watanuki's face got more and more evil as her eye brows knit together and her smirk widened. She chuckled menacingly.

"Okay everyone! I want you all to start building a snowman in whatever shape you want!" Yuko called, skating around on the frozen pond with her regular shoes (Watanuki couldn't even fathom how she did that).

"Huh?" Watanuki asked, her evil face dropping off in her confusion. "Snowman? I thought this was a snowball fight!" Yuko pivoted into a backwards glide, one of her feet lifting up gracefully as her long bangs streamed out in front of her.

"Stop complaining and just make one, Watanuki. I'll explain things in a minute." She smiled and skated off into a graceful jump turn, leaving all of Watanuki's questions hanging in the air.

"When she smiles like that I get knots in my stomach." The girl groaned. _Never mind that now! I'm going to win this thing! _Everyone started rolling up balls of snow for their snowmen and fifteen minutes later, everyone had a snowman. "There! It's all done!" Watanuki stood up from her work and found Doumeki standing beside her, staring down at her snowman.

"That's not a snowman. That's a snow-bunny." Doumeki said, looking down at the adorable little snow bunny with snow flowers on its ears and little red eyes. But it was cute the way the girl had been carefully crafted her rabbit and Doumeki had snuck glances at her while he worked just to watch.

"Great. Everybody's a critic." Watanuki grumbled. Then she pointed at Doumeki's snowman in disgust. "Oi! Don't tell me you're trying to pass that thing off as your entry!" Doumeki's "snowman" actually looked like a robot, with an oil drum as its body, bendy, metal pipes for arms and legs and a snow head with two simple eyes and mouth. "On the other hand, yours is perfectly gorgeous, Wari!" The girl smiled at the curly-haired boy as he finished his snowman. The snowman was made of seven balls of snow with one huge one for a head, two little ones on top of that for ears, a medium sized one for the body, two little ones for arms and then a smallish one on the bottom for…something. "It's a sea angel right? It's perfect! You must have a natural talent for sculpture."

"What's a sea angel?" Wari asked, disillusioning Watanuki of his brilliance.

"Uh…well…it's…forget about it." She replied, not wanting to make her classmate feel stupid (which he wasn't).

"Don't waste your praise on that pile of slush!" Ame-Warishi called out. Watanuki looked over to where the sprite had been working and found a pair of very realistic snowmen behind the red head. "If you really want to know what sculpture is all about then take a look at mine!"

The pair of snowmen were Raijin and Fujin, the Japanese gods of weather. They looked like shirtless ogres with their horns and fangs, but Ame-Warishi had done a really good job on them. Raijin was surrounding by his circle of drums, his hammers in his hands and Fujin had his wind-tossed hair and bag of wind so he could call up storms (7).

"Wow." Wari breathed.

"Oh, give me a break." Watanuki huffed and then she spotted Zashiki-Warish's snowman…well, snow-Pegasus. It was taller than she was, standing on four legs and the sprite was hiding behind the horse's wing. "A Pegasus, huh? Nice work! It's adorable!"

"Thanks…" Zashiki-Warishi said quietly, blushing again. "I'm very glad you like it."

"Um hm." Mokona cleared its throat and got everyone's attention, standing in the snow with its arms crossed and looking smug. "Actually, Mokona's is the best of them all!"

"Holy shit!" Watanuki yelled, looking up at the giant snow-Mokona that stood taller than the trees in the park.

"Ta-da! I named it White Mokona because I could!" The little fur ball explained.

"How did you even do that?!" Watanuki asked incredulously, looking at the detail and exactness that had gone into created such a monstrosity.

"Alright!~ Is everyone finished?" Yuko asked, clapping her hands together. She walked over and stood on a bench, drawing the group to her position. They all stood in front of the witch like a line of soldiers getting ready for battle…a snow battle. "It's finally time to start the snowball fight! The rules are a little bit complicated." She paused for a moment, building the drama. "You must use your snowman to throw snowballs at other players. And that's it." Another moment of silence ensued.

"Who does what now?" Watanuki asked, extremely confused. She chuckled in disbelief. "Because it sounded like you said to use your snowman to throw snowballs at the other players." As Watanuki was talking, Doumeki's snowman had walked up to Watanuki's snow bunny and scooped up a handful of snow, pausing for a moment to judge its trajectory before slamming the little bunny with a high velocity impact of frozen liquid, which is just a fancy way of saying that the bunny got creamed.

"AAAAAHHHHHH!" Watanuki screamed as her bunny disappeared into a pile of snow, slapping her hands on her head in horror.

"You got that right." Doumeki said, tapping his chin thoughtfully. Watanuki growled and grabbed his collar to strangle him.

"That was a false start!" Watanuki yelled.

"Ha!" Mokona laughed. "You lost the game before it even started!"

"Forget the game and tell me how in the hell can a snowman move on its own!" She screamed, throwing her hands up in the air and turning towards Yuko. "I mean, we're just using big piles of snow and nothing else, right?! Except in that idiot Doumeki's case." Watanuki grumbled.

"There are lots of technical ways to explain it but they're all such a pain, so just forget about it." Yuko sighed, shaking her head. "Just think of it as a magical moment that happened on a snowy afternoon!~" The witch clapped her hands together, her eyes shining and her aura sparkling around her. Watanuki couldn't believe her!

"Alright!~ It's time to activate White Mokona!" Mokona shouted, hopping up a tree and across its snow Mokona until it was sitting in the cockpit on its head. "White Mokonaaaaa….GO!~ Pilder on!" (8)

"Wait, I think I've seen this show." Doumeki commented.

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Watanuki snapped at him, not getting the obscure references. "It doesn't matter," the raven said, holding up a dismissive hand. "Because I've already lost. See ya, everyone." Watanuki started walking off, shoving her hands in her pockets and planning her hot shower and dinner that evening (her legs were seriously freezing in that skirt).

"Hm hm!" Mokona chuckled, jiggling two of the three joy sticks that it used to move the White Mokona. The giant Mokona sprang to life, raising its arms in the air and roaring as only snow can before it started tromping towards Watanuki. Mokona laughed from up in the cockpit as they both approached the girl. Watanuki was walking towards where she'd left her bag and spotted the white monstrosity coming towards her.

"Hm? What? Wait a minute…" The girl watched the snow monster stomp in her direction and it wasn't stopping. Watanuki was getting nervous…shouldn't Mokona be targeting the other players with snowmen still? Why was that little shit ball coming towards her?! "Hold on. My bunny's finished! I'm already out of the game!" She started running and Mokona sent its snowman after her, shouting in glee.

"I'm settling an old score! It's personal!" The little pork bun yelled down at its prey. Watanuki skidded to a halt, glaring up at the Mokona.

"That's my line you conniving, bossy, little asshole!" The girl yelled up to the pork bun. And then she had to leap out of the way as White Mokona's ear came hurtling down to crush her. "Ahhhh!" She screamed, falling face first in the snow, her skirt flipping up to reveal her panties of choice that day, and surprisingly enough, they had little pink bunnies on them. Doumeki took out a camera and snapped a picture before anyone noticed, promising to treasure the keepsake forever. Unaware of what Doumeki had done (so she couldn't yell at him), Watanuki jumped up and raced across the snow, jumping out of the way as White Mokona's ears swung from side to side, trying to smack her like a bug. Snow flew into the air with each impact and Watanuki almost got caught several times, only her cat-like reflexes and generally clumsiness saved her.

"Somebody stop this thing before it kills me!" She screamed, running away as fast as she could. Mokona laughed evilly, squeezing the triggers of the White Mokona so hard that they broke off. It looked down at the broken controls in its hands and shrugged.

"Oh well! It's only snow after all!" Mokona yelled before screaming as the White Mokona rampaged, still trying to swat Watanuki. The girl and the Mokona screamed and Watanuki ended up running under a park slide in a desperate attempt to escape, the White Mokona following her. She screamed louder as the snowman stomped after her, trying to step over the slide and failing miserably. The White Mokona's legs couldn't reach and the slide collapsed the bottom half of the snowman while the top half fell after Watanuki. The seer screamed again as a mountain of snow fell on her, burying her in a gigantic crash. Watanuki's head popped out of the snow a few moments after the dust had settled, gasping for air and shivering

"Ha!" Mokona huffed, completely unaffected and unburied even though it had been on top of the snow creature. "The only reason you got away was because its legs were too short."

"Yeah?! Well, whose fault was that, Stubby?" Watanuki snapped, glaring hotly at the fur ball. "That's what you get for making it look like yourself!"

"No! It's different!" Mokona protested.

"Oh, yeah? And how's that?" Watanuki asked facetiously.

"That was White Mokona! I'm Black Mokona!"

"That's a difference in color, not legs!" Watanuki growled, banging her fists into the snow several times. And that's when the girl realized that she was wet in some very uncomfortable places…like down her shirt and in her underwear (but not for the normal reasons). "And now because of you I have snow in places that I didn't even know snow could go!"

"That was hot." Doumeki said, taking out his camera and snapping a picture as Watanuki reached down her coat and her shirt to pull out a chunk of snow. "Now say something else dirty." He requested.

"What do you think I am?! A peep show!?" Watanuki took the chunk of snow she'd found in her shirt and threw it at the archer's face, hitting him dead on. He didn't even mind that one.

"Oi." Doumeki said, pointing to the pile of snow to distract Watanuki. Her skirt had flipped up again and he wasn't about to waste an opportunity to see those bunnies again. "I think…I'm out too." But he did have a valid reason to point at the pile of what used to be White Mokona because his snowman had gotten caught up in the crash and was now a pile of snow and an oil drum.

"That's what you get! HAHAHA!" Watanuki smirked. "That's karma's way of making you its bitch for your false start earlier!"

"Hey!" Wari called, pointing to the huge pile of snow. "It's moving!" Watanuki, Doumeki, Wari, Ame-Warishi, Zashiki-Warishi and Mokona all watched as a tiny bit of the snow started wiggling and shaking until Watanuki's snow-bunny popped its head out of the ground by what was left of Doumeki's snowman. Watanuki whooped in delight. She was still in the game!

"It must've dug itself a hole to hide in." Doumeki surmised. "What a coward."

"What was that?!" Watanuki hissed, turning on Doumeki. "You have not room to talk you cheater!" The snow rabbit looked at the people staring down at it and got on its hind legs, running to the right in an attempt to get away. "Hey! Wait! Come back here!" Watanuki called. She groaned at her snow-bunny got further and further away.

"Deserting in the face of the enemy…it really is a coward." Doumeki commented. Watanuki chose to ignore him and just glared instead.

"Heeeeey!" She yelled, running after her snow-bunny. "Fight a little at least! Stop hopping away!"

"You damned son of a bitch!" An annoying voice yelled behind the seer.

"I'm a girl you, asswipe!" Watanuki called back before she even knew who was yelling at her. It was at that point that Watanuki realized that her mouth was running away with her again and honestly, she'd put up with so much shit that it was at least, a little warranted, but sometimes she took the swearing too far. And she realized this when a giant paper fan whacked her in the back of the head and threw her into a tree, the impact sending another round of snow crashing down on top of her. Pain blossomed on the back of Watanuki's head where the fan had got her and on the front too where the tree had got her. "Ow…" She groaned, running her head and standing up. Snow had gone down her shirt again as well. Watanuki looked up to see who had hit her when she was greeted by the angry faces of the Karasu Tengu, fans out and hovering on their boards. Watanuki cringed as they grumbled unhappily.

"What the hell was that for!?" Watanuki snapped.

"You made her cry again, didn't you!?" Keith shouted, waving his fan angrily at the girl. Watanuki gasped and looked around for Zashiki-Warishi. She found the sprite standing with her snow-Pegasus and Ame-Warishi, the seer's snow-bunny hopping toward the kneeling girl.

"Thank goodness!" The sprite sighed, tears welling up in her eyes. "Watanuki's still in the game!" Watanuki cursed the sprite's way too tender heart (but she'd never say it out loud) because it always got her into trouble like this!

"You see!" Another Tengu snarled, waving his fan. "You did make her cry!"

"No I didn't! Not really!" Watanuki waved her arms in argument and desperation. She knew what was coming next and wanted to avoid it at all costs if she could. She had no such luck.

"No excuses!" The second Tengu with sunglasses said. "Punish her!" The Tengu charged, shouting a battle cry and zoomed at the girl. Watanuki ran for her life for the second time that day, dashing through the snow as fast as she was physically capable.

"No!" Zashiki-Warishi yelled, standing up and shouting at her friends. "She didn't do anything! It's not what you think!" But the Tengu were having none of it and flew in a straight line, heading towards Watanuki. Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Four fans hit the girl's head in quick succession as the spirits flew past her and the girl thought for just a moment that that was only four…but then the fifth fan wacked her in the head and sent her tumbling into the snow…_again_. Bam! Watanuki was down for the count. The Tengu circled around, ready to deliver the final blow when Zashiki-Warishi cried out again. "Everyone stop!"

Watanuki shook the snow off of her and looked up, seeing the Tengu coming right for her. The girl screamed, throwing her arms over her head to protect herself. But she didn't have too. Zashiki-Warishi's snow-Pegasus moved lightning fast; protecting the girl that its maker wanted protected and jumped in the way of the charging Tengu. The spirits ran straight into the horse, shattering its body with their impact and taking Zashiki-Warishi out of the game.

"Oooooo!" Everyone on the sidelines said as they watched.

"Oh." Yuko sighed, disappointed that someone else was out, and not by the normal means of how the game was supposed to go. The Tengu shot out of the snow and brushed themselves off as Zashiki-Warishi calmed them down and explained the situation.

"We're sorry." Keith apologized, kneeling and bowing in the snow with his comrades.

"We'll gladly accept any punishment you name." Another Tengu added.

"No, it's alright." Zashiki-Warishi said, smiling. She turned to Watanuki and apologized for the Tengu's behavior. "I'm sorry about that. The whole thing's my fault." Watanuki shook her head, smiling softly.

"No, thanks for saving me." Watanuki's smiled widened…and then she got hit full in the face with a snowball. The raven whirled around to see who the culprit was and found her snow-bunny sitting nonchalantly in the snow. "Hey, you! You're not supposed to throw snowballs at me!" Watanuki growled and ran after her snow-bunny as the creature got up and started running again. "Can't you give me just a little cooperation?!"

"Just look at them…having such a good time." Yuko sighed, holding up her ever-present pipe. "And here I set the whole thing up and I feel so left out." The witch took a smoke. Watanuki popped up next to her boss and growled.

"And what makes _you_ think we're having such a-" A chunk of snow smacked her in the face again. "Wonderful time…?" She finished gloomily as her snow-bunny got out of hand again.

"But you want to know something?" Yuko said slyly. She continued on without waiting for the seer to answer. "The one who's going to win this thing is me!"

"Huh?"

"Now!" Yuko held her arm up as if she was summoning something. "Come forth, darling!"

"I thought she wasn't going to play!" Watanuki gasped as she saw the monstrosity that Yuko had created. It looked like a video game soldier, completely with armor, a helmet and face mask. Watanuki yelped and if she could've seen Yuko's rape face she would've yelped again. It was damn terrifying!

"Finally!" Ame-Warishi scoffed. "An opponent who won't waste my time!" The sprite was standing with Raijin and Fujin behind her, ready for battle. "Sorry, Yuko, but I'm going to have to take you down." The two snow-gods leapt into the air.

"We'll see about that won't we?" Yuko said mischievously, her eyes sparkling. Her snow-soldier's eyes lit up red and it drew a machine gun from its back, pointing the barrel at the approaching snow-gods and fired. Raijin got hit first, seven or eight snowballs slamming into his chest in quick succession, like bullets fired from a machine gun. Then the snow-soldier turned and Fujin and did the same, knocking the snow-gods out of the sky.

"He's pretty good…" Ame-Warishi grumbled, focusing on the battle. "GO RAIJIN!" She shouted, pointing to the thunder god. Raijin came crashing down to earth, feet first and stomped into a solid stance, raising his hammers above his head. He then started spinning the circle of drums that was at his back, banging on them with his hammers powerfully, until his rhythm became a frantic dance of blasts. "NOW FUJIN!" Ame-Warishi called, pointing to the wind god. Fujin twirled his bag of wind around, gaining momentum until he began a wild spin, whirling and whirling until his spin became a tornado of snow. The field became the center of a blizzard, throwing snow and ice into the air as a real tornado appeared out of Fujin's whirlwind and twisted around to point down at the snow-soldier, dumping buckets of water down onto Yuko's creation. Lightning cracked and flared from Rajin's drums, whipping and snapping at the snow-soldier.

Doumeki and Mokona sat on a park bench, calmly watching the impressive display of the snow-gods. "Isn't this supposed to be a snowball fight?" Doumeki asked.

"Yeah!" Mokona answered.

"Why isn't it having any effect on him?!" Ame-Warishi yelled at Yuko, shocked that her downpour wasn't melting the snow-solider on the spot. "Are you sure that thing's made out of snow?!"

"Don't underestimate the power of fantasy!" Yuko chortled back confidently. The snow-soldier, raised it gun and aimed at the snow tornado, blasting away at it until Fujin's motion was stopped, the tornado disappearing and leaving the snow-god wide open for a direct attack that caught him in the chest and sent him flying backwards. Raijin leapt into the air, beating his drums and sending another round of lightning towards his enemy. The snow-soldier rolled out of the way, dodging the deadly blast and sent another volley of shots into the thunder god, kneeling down in the snow for traction. Rajin was sent flying as well, crashing into the snow a dozen meters back. Fujin retaliated and opened his wind bag on the ground, sending a low-flying air blast at Yukos snowman. But he was prepared for that too and held up his left arm, a circular shield snapping around and locking in place just in time to block that attack. Snow flew into the air, the billowing clouds obscuring the fighters for a few moments.

"This snowball fight is turning into an all out war." Doumeki commented, folding his arms. Mokona and Zashiki-Warishi both nodded in agreement. The snow-soldier hid behind a tree, bracing himself against another wind attack and then jumped out to shoot more rapid fire snowballs at the wind god before leaping behind the tree again to escape another attack.

"You're not bad." Ame-Warishi consented as her Raijin created more lightning and sent it towards the snow-soldier.

"Come on, is that all you've got?" Yuko taunted calmly.

"How in the hell can that thing make so many snowballs so fast?" Watanuki panted as she ran up to the benches where everyone else was, giving up on catching her snow-bunny.

"Maybe that's how." Doumeki said, pointing to the hose that ran from the snow-soldier's gun and twisted out of the park towards the street. And if they were to follow the hose out of the park, down the street over several telephone poles and streetlamps, they'd find themselves at a very familiar shop where two little girls were shoveling snow and forming snowballs to be fed into a machine that looked like a giant shredder (but didn't actually shred) and sent them down the hose where they'd then be used to pummel other snowmen. The twins were happily making the snowballs as they sang, "Heave!~ Ho!~ Heave!~ Ho!~ while working and using up all the snow in the yard.

"I have a secret strategy!" Yuko revealed, smiling like the devil himself. "Maru and Moro are my backup! Clever, huh? I call them my Snowball Support Squad!" The witch declared triumphantly.

"That's not fair!" Watanuki said, raining on her parade from the sidelines. Yuko was not pleased and let her face show it. "We were supposed to build a snowman, not recruit and army!" Meanwhile, the snow-soldier was still pummeling Fujin, the snow-god throwing his arms up in front of him for protection, but finally succumbing to the onslaught of the snowball machine gun and bursting into pieces. The snow-soldier turned on Raijin next, blasting away at the god until he too burst into pieces.

"Fujin! Raijin!" Ame-Warishi cried out, watching at both of the snowmen collapsed into nothing but piles of snow before her eyes. The sprite sank to her knees in defeat, glaring at the witch who took her down. She stood up, holding onto her dignity and trudged over to Zashiki-Warishi's bench and sitting down.

"Well, well. Looks like I'm the winner." Yuko noted smugly, folding her arms. "All that's left is…" The witch glanced at the last snowman she had to defeat. Watanuki's eyes followed Yuko's and she nearly choked when she saw who was next to die. Wari was running after his snowman as it bobbed away from him.

"Wait! Come back!" The boy shouted. Watanuki felt sorry for her crush after seeing the destructive power of Yuko's soldier.

"Well, this is going to end badly." Doumeki noted.

"Mmm hmm." Zashiki-Warishi and Mokona both nodded in agreement.

"Come on! Where are you going?" Wari called to his snowman.

"WARI!" Watanuki yelled, trying to get his attention and warn him of the oncoming attack. The boy and the snowman both stopped running and looked at the girl who was frantically waving her arms. "Get out of there! You're in the target zone!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Yuko laughed, framing her mouth with the back of her hand like some anime villain before bending back into a dramatic pose and pointing at Wari's snowman. "Fire at will, Darling!" She shot straight up and clapped her hands together gleefully as Darling began a new onslaguth of . "You know, I've been waiting my whole like to say that line!"

"Oi, Watanuki. Come relax and enjoy and snow cone." Doumeki called to the girl and suddenly everyone was holding a snow cone from out of nowhere. Even Ame-Warishi!

"What are you talking about?!" The girl snapped, glaring at the archer and his damn snow cone from nowhere. "How can you just sit like that when Wari's in trouble?!"

Back at the shop while Watanuki was ranting Doumeki's ear off, Maru and Moro were both enjoying a break on the porch steps and each reading their own copies of the same book.

"I wonder how the mistress is doing on the battlefield." Maru asked, flipping a page in her picture book.

"Judging by the look of things here I'd say she kicking so many butts out there for sure." Moro answered, flipping a page in her picture book.

"She is. So you'd better make more snowballs." Maru agreed, grabbing the shovel by her feet and shoving the handle towards her twin. "Here. Take this!" She said with a smile.

"I think you should make them. Here." Moro shoved the handle back at her twin.

"You do it. Here." Maru said, shoving it back.

"But I don't want too. Here." Moro said, shoving it back.

"You can't say that! Here!

"I can say what I want! Here!"

"No you can't! Here!" And back and forth and back and forth the shovel went. Meanwhile, the snowballs in the machine were shooting off through the hose and into Yuko's next conquest, the pile getting smaller and smaller by the second.

"Oh wow!" Wari gasped, watching as the snowballs that Maru and Moro had made flew through the air from Darling and were gobbled up by his sea angel. The snowman had its mouth open and was catching all the projectiles, growing bigger and bigger with each passing second. Everyone turned to watch with growing anticipation. They knew was what coming next.

"It looks like it's almost at its limit!" Mokona announced. Doumeki nodded.

"I'm afraid you're right…" Watanuki grumbled, feeling sorry that Wari was about to be eliminated from the game. The girl sighed heavily, but then spotted her snow-bunny a little ways off. "Nice and easy…" she whispered, tip-toeing towards her prey in an attempt to catch it, completely ignoring the fact that Wari's sea angel had grown to exponential heights by eating snowballs and burst into a pile of snow when it became too big, barely missing the fleeing Wari.

"Guess that means I'm out of the game too." Wari said, shrugging. "But it was a lot of fun!"

""There are no more challengers! So it looks like I win!" Yuko announced, waving her arm in front of the treasure box that was hers as she skated across the pond and climbed up the miniature mountain again. The rest of the players gathered around to see what was going to happen next when Watanuki stalked up to the witch.

"Not so fast!" The seer shouted standing in front of everyone with her snow-bunny tucked at her hip. She didn't look very threatening, but her confidence made up for some of that. "I don't think you can count me out just yet!"

"Oh, so you're back for more?~" Mokona teased from Wari's arms.

"So your bunny's hiding behind you now?" Doumeki commented. Watanuki was shaking from anger and trying not to rip the archer's head off again. "It's a coward."

"SHUT UP! Cheater shouldn't talk!" Watanuki held up a silencing finger at the brunette and Doumeki decided that he liked her a little bossy, but only when it came off a confidence. All the other times she was bossy were just annoying as all get out.

"I'd like to take a crack at that it but it's so pathetic. I mean, a bunny?" Ame-Warishi scoffed.

"Good luck, Watanuki!" Wari called. Watanuki set her snow-bunny on the ground and it chirped at her.

"Alright, you hang in there." She whispered, stroking the bunny's cold back once in comfort.

"Okay, then." Watanuki said, standing up tall. "It's just you and me now, Yuko. I'm going to kick your ass."

"Fine. If that's the way you want it." The witch conceded. Darling stood next to its mistress, standing even taller than Yuko herself (and that was pretty hard to do). Watanuki and Yuko stared at each other for a moment, their snowmen by their sides and the moment of silence stretched out between them like the snowscape of the park. Blue eyes stared into cranberry ones and the tension in the air thickened, until Yuko's first order snapped it.

"Darling, time to punish her!" Yuko ordered, pointing towards her slave and sending her Darling into battle. The snow-soldier dashed across the snow obediently.

"Is he gonna use electric shock?" Doumeki wondered out loud.

"What kind of crack was that!?" Watanuki snarled, waving an angry fist at the archer. And then it clicked in Watanuki's head. "Oh, wait. I actually know what they're referring too…" And she kinda hoped that she wouldn't have figured it out. The "punishment" and "electric shock" that Doumeki and Yuko were referring too struck a chord with Watanuki as she remembered a conversation she'd had with Doumeki a while ago. It was when they were dealing with the twins, Emiko and Tomo and Yuko had been talking to the girl about chains that weight humans down, like time, death and words. And when Watanuki had mused aloud about it, Doumeki had thought she was into BDSM hobbies and pervy stuff like that, which she wasn't! But now that he'd brought it up again, Watanuki asked herself for a second time…_does he like that kind of thing? _And then she realized what she'd been thinking about. _Why am I even asking that question?! I don't care if he's into dirty stuff like that! I have a snowball fight to win! _But despite her inner monologue, Watanuki thoughts walked right out of her mouth…_again_. "Do you like that stuff?!" She asked incredulously.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Doumeki replied, actually knowing _exactly_ what she was talking about. "Shouldn't you be paying attention?" He reminded the girl.

"You don't have to tell me!" Watanuki hissed. She then turned to face Darling and sent her snow-bunny into action…or at least she tried. "Go! Uh...bunny!" Her bunny just chirped at her again and didn't move and inch. "He's going to get you!" Watanuki was starting to panic as the snow-soldier approached. If it could take out two initation gods, then what could Darling do to actual flesh and blood?! "Get going!" The bunny stayed put.

"Would you please run, for me?" Watanuki pleased, kneeling in the cold snow, wishing that she had pants on as she sank up to her thighs in snow. The bunny chirped and didn't move. Now Watanuki was angry, her face red in frustration. "You were running around like a drunken lunatic a few minutes ago!" She complained. The snow-bunny hopped towards her and pulled on her sleeve with its teeth. It kept pulling, trying to get Watanuki to move somewhere. "What's the matter?! Do you have some sort of rabbit death wish?!" Watanuki threw her hands into the air resigning herself to defeat. Darling was in close range now, there's no way he'd miss when his prey was right in front of him.

"AHHHHHH! I am so dead!" The girl screamed the crossed her hands over her face because she was pretty sure that Darling was aiming for _her_ and not her snow-bunny. But as the snow-soldier pulled on the trigger, nothing came out, just a futile clicking noise as Watanuki realized he was out of ammo.

"Huh?" Watanuki gasped.

"Huh?" Yuko puzzled.

Back at the shop, things were getting pretty heated between Maru and Moro, so much so that their argument completely blocked out the fact that the machine had run out of snowballs.

"You're a big, fat, lazy bones! Here!" Maru snapped, pushing the shovel with all her strength towards her twin. "I think you're a bossy pants! Here!"

"Just switch for a second! Here!" Moro pushed back with all her strength as they both struggled to dump the work on the other.

"I don't want too! It's your turn!"

"You have to switch! Take it!"

"Forget it!"

Watanuki pointed and laughed at Darling, not knowing that her good fortune was granted to her by the immature squabble of two lazy girls. "You're out of ammo!~ You're completely useless without a weapon to wave around! What's the matter?! Come on! Here! Shoot me!" Watanuki stuck her tongue out at the snow-soldier, blowing raspberries and teasing the snowman. Yuko growled at her employee, ticked off that her ultimate weapon was having a malfunction and annoyed that Watanuki had gotten so cocky. But then the witch felt something nudge her foot and she looked down, noticing that she was standing on the hose and a single snowball was caught behind her foot. Her eyes narrowed at the delicious irony of the situation. Watanuki thought that Darling didn't have any ammo, but she would be sorely surprised when she got clobbered in the face. It didn't matter whether the snow-bunny got destroyed now or later, as long as Watanuki learned her place. Yuko watched as Watanuki struck a thinking pose, getting right in Darling's face as he fiddled with his gun. "If you're not gonna shoot, then maybe I should attack you then, huuuuuhhh?" Watanuki rolled out her punching arm. Yuko lifted up her foot, grinning wolfishly and began the countdown to Watanuki's doom.

"Three…two…one…" She said softly, relishing the anticipation. Then something unexpected happened. Darling unhooked the hose from his gun and looked inside to see if something was blocking the way. Yuko's eyes widened in horror as she watched her creation's head explode from the impact of the zooming snowball, splattering Darling's head everywhere. Watanuki gagged on snow, caught up in the explosion of snow, her entire front half snowed over as Darling fell to the ground, defeated. Watanuki sat up in a pile of what used to be Darling's upper body, a look of disbelief on her face as her own snow-bunny walked up behind her.

"What happened? Did…I just win?" She asked incredulously.

"Congratulations, Watanuki!" Wari called from the sidelines, clapping his hands in delight. "Looks like you're the winner!"

"She only won because her opponent screwed up!" Mokona argued.

"It doesn't matter! I'm the winner! Isn't that right?!" Watanuki shouted at the pork bun, turning to Yuko for confirmation.

"I guess it can't be helped. I admit my defeat." Yuko sighed and held up her hands.

"Whoopee! And she snatches victory from the jaws of defeat!" Watanuki cheered, twirling around happily. "I'd never thought I'd live to see this day! It just goes to show that you should never give up!"

"We get it. You win." Yuko growled discontentedly as she walked away. "Yadda yadda yadda." She was pissed off at losing, but she was trying not to let it show, going more for a indifferent disgruntlement.

"That's right I won and you shouldn't act to indifferent about it after you just lost!" Watanuki snapped, pointing at the witch dramatically. But in the end, she followed Yuko over to the treasure box to get her prize. Everyone else stood around as well, waiting to see what would happen.

"So I get anything I wish for, right?" Watanuki said, rubbing her hands together as she thought about what she wanted. _Something to get back a Yuko? Something to make Wari fall for me? Or something to get Doumeki to leave me alone? Which one? Which one? _"What should it be? Should I wish for this…? Or that…?" The raven knelt down to open the box lid, deciding that revenge against Yuko was the most important of her objective for now and was about to wish for something that would get the wish off her back.

"By the way Watanuki, I forgot to ask…what are we having for dinner tonight?" Yuko said, right as the girl opened the box.

"Huh?" She uttered. In a poof of yellow smoke, the box was opened and inside lay a closed dish with black Mokonas on it and two jugs of sake. Watanuki stared down in horror at the turn of events. Yuko smiled devilishly, having snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.

"Well…apparently since we were just talking about dinner, that's what you must've been thinking about when you opened the wishing box."

"Now hold on!" Watanuki shrieked, standing up and glaring at the witch.

"I think it might be nice if we had a hotpot party in the snow tonight, don't you?" (8)Yuko continued, ignoring the furious girl. "I anticipated something like this might happen so…" Yuko snapped her fingers and Ame-Warishi, Zashiki-Warishi and Wari walked up with several shopping bags that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"Boy, this stuff is heavy." The rain sprite grumbled.

"But I think we have it all." Wari said cheerfully.

"And naturally, we'll need a cozy little dining area." Yuko snapped her fingers again. And suddenly Doumeki was standing next to a giant igloo that he and Mokona had apparently _just made_, holding onto a shovel as the pork bun dashed out from under the _kotatsu_ table nestled inside (10).

"Oi." Doumeki said, patting the last of the snow into place.

"Okay everybody! Get in there and make yourselves at home!" Yuko said proudly, ushering her guests inside. "And Watanuki, you get our feast ready!" Everyone took off their boots and filed into the igloo to sit on the mat and under the _kotatsu_ as the girl stared dumbly at everything that had just happened. She couldn't believe her eyes!

"That must've been a lie! Sounds like you've been prepared for this!" Watanuki freaked out, throwing a Watanuki-sized tantrum by stamping and jumping around in the snow. "I bet she had this whole thing planned out from the beginning!" The girl was crying now, big fat tears running down her face as her victory was turned into a nightmare. "And this tacky looked casserole dish and utensils must've been in the box the entire time!" She wailed, holding up the Mokona dish.

"Don't call that work of art 'tacky!'" Mokona snapped, completely disgusted at the girl's description of its wonderful physique. But inevitability, Watanuki ended up in her cooking smock and head-kerchief serving the hot pot to everyone else. Yuko sat at the head of the _kotatsu_ and Doumeki at the foot with Wari on one side and the sprites on the other. And Mokona just wherever the hell Mokona wanted to go. Watanuki sighed, stirring the hotpot and picking out the ingredients that everyone called for.

"I guess…this is how it usually turns out…" She sighed again, completely downcast. "After all, life is all about being flexible." She said, echoing Yuko's words from yesterday. Outside their igloo of warmth and light, snow began to fall, beginning the process of covering up the great battle that had been waged on the field that day.

"Itadakimasu!" Everyone called as they began eating. Yuko smiled as she took a bite from her bowl.

"You know what? This makes me really thirsty!" The witch hummed. "Watanuki, get me a beer!"

"Yeah!~ Me too!~" Mokona called.

"Hey, I think I'll have some too!" Ame-Warishi added.

"Here." The seer said numbly as she walked into the igloo holding a tray with two bottles of beer. "Thanks for waiting."

"Watanuki, the hotpot is delicious!" Wari said, the first and only one to thank the girl for her hard work. "Right?" The boy asked Doumeki.

"Yeah." The archer nodded in agreement.

"Do you think we should give her a hand?" Zashiki-Warishi asked, being the only one who'd offered to help.

"Nah, she's doing this because she wants too." Ame-Warishi replied, chewing on a particularly good piece of meat.

"Watanuki! We need more garland chrysanthemums and shiitake mushrooms!" Mokona shouted.

"I think it's about time we started the seafood!" Yuko added. "Bring in the shrimp and oysters!"

"Yeah, yeah…I'll go get it." The seer replied glumly, sighing again.

"And be quick about it!~" Yuko sang. Watanuki growled, despising the fact that she was being treated like a slave…_again_.

"Watanuki! I need a shōchū and water here!" Mokona ordered. "And some sour plums on the side just the way I like them!"

"And I want a hot sake!~" Yuko added. "Would you bring me a big cup and not one of those little ones you always use?" The entire the time the pork bun and the witch had been ordering Watanuki around, the girl had been trembling in anger, grinding her teeth together as she was used again and again and again without any regards to how she was feeling. And finally, it just boiled down to the point where she screamed as loud as she could, shaking the whole igloo as her little snow-bunny hopped up to her feet.

"THIS IS SO UNREASONABLE!" The scream was so loud that Watanuki scared off her snow-bunny as it dashed away from the fuming girl. The raven snarled and walked outside to get the things that Yuko and Mokona had ordered, hating herself for not having a spine anymore and just letting everyone walk all over her. After thirty mintues of being everyone's personal servant, the girl had had enough.

Watanuki stomped out into the park, shrugging on her cream-colored coat and throwing her smock into the snow. _I've had it with them! Completely selfish…cocky…and unreasonable! _Watanuki trudged through the snow, leaving the igloo that Doumeki had built behind her as the light from inside the snow house grew distant in the night. A light flurry kicked up, whisking new fallen snow up into Watanuki's face as she looked for a place to sit by herself for a while. All day she'd been teased, tricked and humiliated all on top of being Yuko's little servant in front of everyone and she just couldn't take it one minute more. _Let them grab their own drinks! I'm done! _After walking down several paths and around a corner, Watanuki spotted a park bench under a glowing lamplight that wasn't too buried in snow and sloughed her way over to it before plopping down on the cold seat. She folded her arms around her chest, shivering as the snowflakes drifted down from the sky around her, piling up on the snow that they'd disturbed that afternoon. Pretty soon, if it kept snowing, all the holes and foot prints from the snowball fight would be filled in, like it had never happened. Watanuki wished it had never happened.

It wasn't that the snowball fight itself hadn't been fun…it was the stuff afterwards that hadn't been. She had to cook, she had to make sure everyone had drinks, she had to be the one going in and out of the igloo on errands, she didn't get to eat with everyone and she didn't get a wish. That had probably been the worst part of the evening because at first she thought the whole snowball fight was silly and was instantly taken out. But then her snow bunny had survived and she'd actually won against Yuko at _something_, only to have her victory and supposed wish snatched away as the box either granted the idea of food that was in her head at the time, or if Yuko had stashed the food in there beforehand thinking that she was going to win for sure. Either way, Watanuki had been screwed from the beginning, her hollow victory ruined by Yuko's petty tricks. _That witch…she drives me crazy! Most of the time I can handle it and it's even a little fun, but not today! She's jerked me around too much to be forgiven easily! _Watanuki stewed, hunkering down on her bench and puffing angry clouds of breath into the air. _They can yell for me all they want, but I'm not catering to them anymore! _

Watanuki sat out in the cold for a little while, maybe twenty minutes or so, wondering if Yuko and the rest of them were even missing her, and hoping they did. If anything, she wanted them to come find her and drag her back to the party (of course, she'd protest, but only for a little bit) that way, she'd know if she was really needed. But she wouldn't go looking to be needed; they had to come to her this time! It was a matter of respect now, and Watanuki felt like there'd been a lack of respect for some time, and instead, she was just being used as a housekeeper and cook because she could clean and cook and that's where her value ended. It was all quite degrading now that she thought about it.

The raven sank into her seat now, completely depressed that she could be taken advantage of so easily. This wouldn't have happened in the past! Watanuki was headstrong and stubborn and before she met Yuko, she wouldn't do anything she hadn't wanted to do. But since she'd met the witch, she'd met her match and Yuko was now the pro at getting what she wanted, whether Watanuki wanted it or not. It was degrading. The girl shivered, wishing that she had pants on instead of her uniform skirt, tears welling up in her eyes. There were spare blankets back at the igloo but she refused to move from that spot, until someone came looking for her.

That someone happened to be Doumeki. The archer had gotten up from his seat in the igloo after Watanuki had ignored three of Yuko's calls for drinks and two of his own calls for more food. It was then that he'd decided to go see what was taking so long. He ducked under the doorway of the igloo and stood up, holding a bowl of hot pot ingredients and looking to see if the girl was around the food/supplies pile. She wasn't, and her coat was gone, her smock thrown haphazardly into the snow and half-buried in new snow. Doumeki picked up the wet smock and folded it up, placing it on the extra canister for the burner before walking out into the snow a little bit. Watanuki wasn't in sight.

"Oh, Doumeki," Yuko poked her head out of the igloo, her cheeks a light red from drinking. "Would please go find Watanuki…I have a feeling she's not very pleased with how things turned out this afternoon. Would you cheer her up for me?" Doumeki nodded, already having been resolved to find Watanuki with or without Yuko asking. "Thanks!~" Yuko's head disappeared and Doumeki turned his back on the snow house. _Time to find Watanuki. _

Doumeki left the igloo and started walking around the park, deciphering the half-filled in foot prints in the snow and muddling out which ones were from the snowball fight and which ones were Watanuki's. He walked with his head down for a little bit, covering his bowl of food with one had to keep it warm as he searched. Down several paths and around a corner, Doumeki found a shivering Watanuki sitting alone on a park bench. He stopped, watching her sit for a moment, seeing her sniff and wipe at her eyes…as if she'd been crying. Doumeki grew concerned, wondering if Watanuki had left the party to cry alone in the dark. He couldn't imagine the real reasons behind her melancholy, but it was just too sad to see her sitting there all alone while there was a party going on with all her friends. Doumeki started walking towards her, his footsteps crunching in the snow as he approached her, signaling his presence to the girl.

"What are you doing here, jerkass?" She snapped, sniffing as her head turned and caught sight of him.

"Looking for you." He answered, stopping in front of the bench where his and Watanuki's footsteps mingled in the snow.

"Why? You all seemed to be doing fine without me." She snarled, clearly upset at being left out of the party.

"We were wondering where you'd gone."

"Oh, goody. So you only notice me when I'm gone. At least that's _something_." Watanuki huffed, wrapping her arms around herself tighter. "Now that you've found me…go away." Doumeki stared at the girl. Clearly she didn't want him around, but then why didn't she come back now? Did she want someone to stay with her, out here in the snow? Or did she want someone to bring her back to the party? Did she even want to go back? Doumeki shrugged and did the opposite of what she said despite her harsh words. He sat down on the bench and took out a pair of chopsticks from his coat, holding his food bowl in his hand. "What are you doing? I asked you to leave!" Watanuki growled at the sudden intrusion, but she didn't really make a move to get the boy to leave, she just sat on the opposite side of the bench and refused to look at him. The hotpot stew steamed in the cool air, letting out a little warmth in his hands. Doumeki picked up some sukiyaki with his chopsticks and held it out to Watanuki.

"What's the supposed to mean?" She said, eyeing the mouthful carefully.

"If you cook it, you should eat it too." Doumeki said, holding up a piece of meat in his chopsticks.

"Most of the time you and Yuko eat everything be I can have a chance to-umph!" Watauki's rant was interrupted by Doumeki shoving his chopsticks into her mouth at the moment it was the widest in her rant, effectively shutting her up with meat. Watanuki chewed and swallowed, the warm food sliding down her throat and into her stomach pleasantly. She looked up at Doumeki, her glare a little softer as he took a bite and then picked out some vegetables for her, holding up his chopsticks. Watanuki leaned closer and took the bite, chewing as Doumeki took another before holding up his chopsticks to her again. They continued like that in silence until the bowl was empty. Doumeki set the foodless bowl down on the bench and scooted in closer to Watanuki so he could share a little warmth with her cold body. Watanuki's legs were bare and had started turning a little blue in the cold, so Doumeki unbuttoned his coat and pulled it off, draping it across their legs as they sat together.

"Hey! You need that!" Watanuki protested, as Doumeki placed the blanket across their legs and waved her hands away before she could take it off. "You'll freeze!"

"Not if I do this." The archer said, leaning into Watanuki, wrapping his right arm around the seer and pulling her close.

"But-I-ah…um…" Watanuki was at a loss for words as Doumeki squished them together. It certainly was warmer, but…it was kinda weird for him to hold her. But it wasn't all bad…in fact…it was kinda nice. At least she knew someone wanted her around, even if it was just for warmth. And her legs felt better too, wrapped up in his warm coat, his body heat still clinging to the fabric. They sat together for a while, just watching the snowfall in the lamplight, unaware that they had an audience watching them from a little ways off, hiding the bushes.

"I didn't think that she'd let him do that!" Yuko whispered excitedly.

"Aw! They look so cute together!" Wari whispered back.

"And you're okay with that?" Yuko asked, eyeing the smiling boy.

"Sure! I've got no reason not too!"

"I feel bad for Zashiki-Warishi though," Yuko sighed, looking at the sprite. Zashiki-Warishi was watching Watanuki and Doumeki through the bushes, trying not to cry.

"Hey! Are you sad?" Mokona asked the sprite.

"No, I'm not! Not really…I kinda knew that my affection was unrequited…to an extent." The blue-haired girl said, blushing deeply. Ame-Warishi wrapped her arm around her friend.

"She's a fool anyway. She doesn't deserve you." The rain sprite whispered.

"That's not true…" Zashiki-Warishi replied. "She's just…better for him." She pointed to Doumeki.

"But there's still a chance that they won't work out." Yuko said, watching the pair. "Watanuki's very good a pushing people away when it suits her. But I do hope that they at least have a little fun."

"It'll be fun to watch, if nothing else." Ame-Warishi said.

"Yeah!" Mokona agreed.

"I just hope they're happy, whatever ends up happening." Wari smiled.

"Me too." Zashiki-Warishi smiled, holding in her tears just in case her Tengu friends were nearby. Right now, she didn't think that that sort of ruckus was a good idea. She could cry later if she felt like it. The group watched the pair for a little while longer, waiting for something to happen. Yuko and Mokona wanted a kiss, that way they could use it as ammunition to torment Watanuki. Wari wanted them to continue to sit next to each other, it was so cute! Zashiki-Warishi didn't want anything in particular and Ame-Warishi was debating on whether or not to dump snow on Watanuki in retaliation for making her friend sad. However, none of those things actually happened because Watanuki did something first. And that something was shoving Doumeki off the bench and into the snow.

"Don't think that because I let you sit by me you can do whatever you want!" She yelled. No one in the spying group knew what happened, but it clearly upset the girl back to her normal self. Watanuki threw Doumeki's coat at him and stomped away right past their hiding bushes, blushing furiously as she went on her way. They poked their heads out of the bushes and watched the girl go and then looked at Doumeki. He stood up and brushed off some of the snow Watanuki had pushed him into. Yuko leapt out of the bush and walked over to the archer, burning to know what had happened.

"Doumeki…what did you do?" Yuko asked, coming to stand by the snow covered boy as he put on his coat.

"I tried to touch her butt." He said honestly.

"Don't you think that was a little too progressive?"The witch asked, raising and eyebrow.

"Hm." Doumeki shrugged. "I was looking for her panties." He added.

"So?" She questioned. Doumeki looked at her with his blank face.

"It felt nice." The witch burst into laughter at his comment, holding her stomach as she giggled herself breathless.

"Well, if nothing else, you two will be interesting!" She sang, her laughter echoing in the night.

When Watanuki stomped all the way back to the igloo, everyone was waiting for her inside, calling for more food, even Doumeki! She could never figure out how he managed that (and the fact that everyone in the igloo had pulled the same trick without her knowing made it even funnier to those in on the secret). But when she did get back, Yuko invited the girl to sit down and eat with them…after she cooked up another pot (because they'd eaten whatever had been there). Watanuki grumbled as she went to fetch the next hotpot round, but she smiled to herself secretly, looking up into the sky to watch the snowfall for just a moment before heading back inside to eat.

To be continued...

A/n: And there you go! I hope you liked it! :3 See you next time!

Note 1: Ekikyabe is the Japanese "hangover cure." There's hardly any informationa about it online and it's not worth looking up (because there are some questionable sites that have it as a tag that I wouldn't recommend going too…you're been warned!) Watanuki uses aspirin in the English dub.

Note 2: Watanuki would like to have me mention that she _did_ actually help Doumeki out one time. It was the incident when Zashiki-Warishi accidently stole Doumeki's soul and Watanuki got it back for him.

Note 3: Ground cherrys are known as "hoozuki" in Japanese (and I think in Chinese too). The kanji reads "demon light" and demon means "ghost" in Chinese, as it refers to the red paper lantern the dead carry in the after life. Which makes a lot of sense for the episode because holding the "demon light" allows peopled and spirits to be a part of a demon parade. In herbal medicine, the hoozuki root is called Physalis alkekengi and is mainly used as a cough remedy and a diuretic, and it contains trace amounts of poison. In the past, it was used by prostitutes to induce fetal rejection, and so must never be consumed by a pregnant woman. It contains alkaloids and hystonin which cause miscarriages. And now you know more about ground cherries than you ever wanted to know. The explanation is courtesy of the anime series Hoozuki no Reitetsu (which I will be using later in my dimension hopping story).

Note 4: Hyakki Yagyo (the variation Doumeki uses is Hyakki Yako) is commonly known as the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons in which the parade is made up of one hundred kinds of spirits and yokai. Japanese legend has it that every year the yokai Nurarihyon leads all of the yokai through the streets of Japan at night during the summer. Anyone who crosses the procession will either perish or be spirited away until protected by handwritten scrolls made by onmyoji spell casters. The nigh parade that Watanuki and Doumeki reference is the _Gazu Hyakki Yagyo_ book, the first book of artist Toriyama Sekien's famous _Gazu Hyakki Yago e-on_ series that was published in 1776. The books are supernatural bestiaries, collections of ghosts, spirits and monster that Toriyama based off of literature, folklore and art. If you're interested in the demon parade, I'd suggest watching the _Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan_ anime series. It doesn't completely stick to the traditional sense of the demon parade (of course not, it's also a fictional work) but it does illustrate the base workings of the demon parade and it's just a fun show.

Note 5: Shōchū is Japanese liquor that is normally distilled from rice (kome), barley (mugi), sweet potatoes (imo), buckwheat (soba) or brown sugar (kokutō) but can also be distilled from other ingredients like chestnut, sesame seeds, potatoes or carrots. Shōchū contains 25 percent alcohol by volume, which is less than whiskey and standard-strength vodka, but is stronger than sake and wine. Shōchū originates from Kyūshū but is produced in locations all around Japan.

Note 6: The inside shoes that Japanese students wear are called uwabaki and they are very similar to slippers. Uwabaki are usually worn indoors at home, school and certain companies and public buildings that don't allow street shoes. That's why Japanese homes have a little slipper rack by the _genkan_ and schools have locker rooms or the like in the front, so that people can change into their uwabaki before going inside. A few of the reasons Japanese people wear uwabaki are cultural and practical. Japanese culture mandates that people should remove their shoes when coming inside, especially if the floors have rugs, polished wood or tatami (grass mats). Uwabaki are light, and flexible, easy to slip on and off and their soles are kept clean, helping keep floor maintenance to a minimum. In school, each student has an assigned locker to keep their uwabaki stored in when they're not at school, and a place to put their regular shoes in when they are. Uwabaki are mainly white, but can have stripes of color that indicate grade level on the toes. xxxHolic's happen to be brown…which is confusing because their normal shoes are brown too…go figure.

Note 7: Raijin and Fujin are the Japanese gods of thunder/lightening and wind, respectively. Rajin it usually depicted with his hammers and drums, and with three fingers, each representing the past, present and future. Raijin is amongst the most feared deities, but it was also considered good luck for a rice field to be struck by lightning, a sign of a bountiful harvest. Fujin is the god of wind and is depicted with messy hair and his bag of wind and with four fingers on each hand representing the cardinal directions. These gods are known for their strength and power, especially since Japan had suffered many typoons that had caused great damage.

Note 8: Mokona shouts a catchphrase (and Doumeki recognizes it) from a super robot manga series called Mazinger Z, written and illustrated by Go Nagai and was first published in Shonen Jump in 1972. The "Pilder on" phrase refers to when one of the characters starts the Pilder Jet.

Note 9: Hotpots are fall and winter dishes that are common in many East Asian countries and all of them have similar elements to the Japanese hotpot. A hotpot is a stew consisting of a metal pot of stock at the center of a dining table that is kept simmering as the ingredients are placed in the pot to cook. Hotpot ingredients include thinly sliced meat, leaf vegetables, tofu, egg dumplings, mushrooms and seafood as well as a variety of other ingredients depending on the type of hotpot.

Note 10: A _kotatsu _is a low wooden table with a blanket or a futon thrown over it with a tabletop resting on top of that. The heating element that warms the _kotatsu_ is underneath and usually attached to the table itself. And most of what I learned about a _kotatsu_ was from Ouran Highschool Host Club.


	12. The Photo and The Superstition

A/N: ZareEraz here! I know its been a long time coming but here's the next chapter of Addiction! We're almost done with the first season people! Hooray! Don't forget to review and comment because I love hearing from you guys! Happy reading!

Chapter Eleven: The Photo and The Superstition

Watanuki stirred the melted chocolate, sugar and butter in her saucepan over and over again, making sure the consistency was smooth enough. She was standing in the kitchen in her usual cooking attire, surrounded by her bowls, cups and trays, the lights turned off so not to disturb the others in the shop, and it was getting increasingly difficult and annoying to have to cook in the dark, but she bore it because this was her job after all…no matter how much she hated it at times. The girl took her spoon out of the chocolate, watching as the warm, sweet liquid dribbled off the end and nodded in triumph.

"There…it's finished." She whispered, so not to alert the many observant people in the shop. But too bad for her, they were listening. A switch clicked on, flooding the kitchen in light and suddenly Watanuki was surrounded by Yuko and Mokona on her right and Maru and Moro on her left.

"Did you say, 'finished?'" Yuko cooed, clapping her hands together and leaning into the girl. Today, Yuko wasn't dressed as flamboyantly as she usually was, wearing maroon, long-sleeved butterfly top, her yellow arm wrap that was slung over both her elbows, and a red skirt with her boots.

"That's what she said!" Mokona agreed, and then giggled at the other stupid joke that had popped up in the sentence.

"Yay! Yay!" The twins sang, throwing their hands into the air.

"No! The chocolate's ready to pour, that's all I meant!" Watanuki protested loudly, frowning. Mokona started reaching its grubby little paw towards the chocolate bowl, smirking in triumph. Watanuki snatched the pot out of its reach and held it above her head.

"Not so fast! No snatching food!" The girl snapped.

"Drat!" Mokona said, clutched in the jaws of defeat.

"Oh, stop that!" Watanuki sighed, moving to her left to pour the chocolate into the cups that would bake the cakes she was making. She'd stuck them on a tray just in case she spilled chocolate on the counter, but it seemed that Mokona was ready to handle any mess she made as long as it could eat it. "You're going to have to wait. The longer you mess with me the longer it's going to take." Watanuki poured the chocolate into a bowl of beaten egg whites, and carefully stirred and folded both mixtures until they'd melted together. Mokona took one step towards the bowl…then two…and then leapt! But Watanuki was too fast and too practiced at this kind of thing and snatched the bowl away again, expertly pouring the mixture into the cups while avoiding Mokona's greedy attempts to snatch a bite.

"There." The seer said, once she was done pouring. "But I don't see why you needed me to rush over here and make these for you." Watanuki commented. She'd received a phone call late that evening when she was doing homework, and Yuko insisted that she had to come to the shop immediately and make cakes, no matter what she was doing at the time. So Watanuki did it, knowing that if she didn't Yuko would make life more difficult for her in the long run, and she'd keep calling until the girl came over, interrupting her sleep if need be.

"Because tomorrow is the fourteenth of February!~ Valentine's Day, remember?" Yuko replied, tapping her lip with one slender finger. "And it wouldn't be Valentine's Day without chocolate."

"I know its Valentine's Day." Watanuki huffed. "Its kinda the point for girl's to make chocolate for the boys. But did you have to do it this late?"

"If I'm not causing trouble for anyone else, it's fine to make chocolate this late, right?" Yuko said, bringing her fingers up under the raven's chin, holding her face as if she was going to kiss the girl.

"No, as long as you're not troubling anyone, then sure, fine! Whatever you want to do!" The girl batted the witch's fingers away for her face and glared at the woman, getting in her face. "But when you call in the middle of the night and spring this cake job on me – and not just any cake, a fancy French job!" Watanuki angrily pointed to the cups filled with cake batter and then had to bat Mokona away from the tray before it ate everything. "I had to run to two different stores in freezing weather to get the ingredients and if that's not trouble then I don't know what is!" She shouted. Yuko just giggled, a delighted blush on her cheeks and Mokona joined her. "What the hell are you laughing at?!"

"Watanuki's really mad now!" Maru sang.

"Watanuki is really mad now!" Moro repeated. The twin's both danced around and then started laughing with Mokona and Yuko, pissing the girl off even more. But she forgot all about that when a wonderful thought popped into her head.

"There is a good side, though!" The girl smiled, fist pumping. "I'm going to do it! I'm going to give Wari one of these on top of the chocolates I made for him! It'll be perfect!~"

"Hello?" The girl's triumphant moment was interrupted by a woman's voice calling into the shop, accompanied by the front door closing. _A customer? This late? That's really odd. _She voiced her confusion out loud.

"A customer? This late?" She said and then she called out to the woman. "Coming!" The girl ran out of the room, sliding on the wood floors in her socks when she made the turn into the hallway. Yuko watched her little slave go, her eyes unreadable as her next customer arrived. Watanuki jogged down the hallway and turned the corner towards the front door. The woman was standing in the _genkan_, clad in a tanish-brown skirt and a teal coat, a purse slung around her shoulder. She was biting her bottom lip nervously, getting lipstick on her teeth which she then licked off. She had sad dark eyes and bobbed hair that was disheveled, as if she'd run all the way to the shop. Watatnuki walked up to the edge of the hallway and greeted the woman.

"Good evening. Is there something we can help you with?" The seer asked. The woman's hand shot out and grabbed her arm, pulling her into a weird and frantic hug.

"They told me if I came here that you could take care of it for me!" She was nearly shouting, pleading with Watanuki as she wrapped both arms around the girl's one. "I'm begging you!" Watanuki tried to explain that she wasn't the one with freaky wish granting powers, that was Yuko's deparment (of course, she'd say it nicer) but the woman didn't let her get a word in edgewise.

"Um, you want-"

"You can grant my wish, can't you?" This time the woman did wait for an answer.

"No, I can't help you. That is…we can but it's not as simple as you think it is!"

"You've got to help me! I'll pay you anything you want! You can take everything!" The woman pleaded, her words becoming even more desperate.

"Okay, but like I said-" This time is wasn't the customer that cut her off, but Yuko.

"You've got the wrong person." The witch interjected, walking into the entrance. Both the girl and the customer turned their heads towards Yuko. She looked quite regal and mysterious standing there, her hand on the short moon screen, her yellow butterfly wrap gracefully draped across her shoulders and pooling on the floor. "I'm the owner of the shop. You'll want to talk to me. How can I help you?"

Several minutes later, both women were in the octagonal tower of the shop, sitting at the small table, the clock ticking in the silence. Yuko sat very calmly, crossing her legs and waiting for the woman to speak. The customer looked really nervous as she sat, all shifty, her eyes not lingering on one thing for long before darting to something else. The customer broke the silence first.

"I'm sorry, but I heard about your shop from someone else who-" Yuko held up her hand to stop the woman.

"I would rather you not mention the name of the person who told you to come here. It is enough that you found your way to my shop." Yuko explained. "You see, those who come here are in need of something only this shop can provide."

"Then you can do something about it for me, can't you?" The woman exclaimed.

"In exchange for the right payment, certainly." Yuko stated, starting her trap all over again. Watanuki rolled her eyes as she walked in on the conversation, catching that last part over the rustled of her tea tray cart. The girl listened in as she rolled her cart to table and started to set out the tea cups and serve the beverage for the ladies.

"I've heard you require payment." The customer said. "Can you give me an idea of what you need from me?"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. First, I need to know a little more." Yuko continued. "What do you want from me precisely?" The woman grabbed her purse from the floor and set it in her lap. She opened the top flap and started reaching for something inside but stopped, her hand trembling. She pulled her hand back to her chest, still trembling and then reached inside. Her fingers caught whatever it was she was looking for and pulled it out. A brown envelope wrapped with string emerged from her purse and she set it on the table, pushing it towards Yuko. _What is that? _Watanuki wondered.

"What have we here?" Yuko asked, her voice boarding on amused and deeply interested.

"Nothing's worked." The woman withdrew her hand and clutched it around her purse. "I've been to temples…shrines…I even went to see a professional psychic! All useless." The woman hung her head. Yuko reached out and took the envelope, looking at it carefully. _That package…I wonder if its something dangerous, _Watanuki thought as she watched her boss.

"If you want me too…I'll keep it here for now." Yuko offered. "But understand: out of sight is not out of mind. In the end, you _will_ have to decide what to do with it." The woman seemed scared by this, her head snapping up, her face holding an expression of suppressed terror. Watanuki didn't know what to make of it, but the woman left after that, leaving Yuko with her name and bowing respectfully in thanks. Watanuki saw Yuri to the door and then Yuko decided that she wanted cake. Sooooo, Watanuki finished baking the cakes, set up Yuko's low, dining table with the rest of the tea and the cakes when they were done and viola, midnight snack. Yuko took a bit of her cake and Mokona inhaled it's share before anyone said anything.

"Delicious! This cake might be the best thing you've ever made, Watanuki!" Yuko complimented her employee as she took another bite.

"Yeah, thank you." The girl couldn't even enjoy the compliment because she was too busy staring at the strange envelope sitting on the table. It was giving her the creeps, sending chills running up and down her spine as she stared at it.

"What's the matter?" Yuko asked. "You seem a little uncomfortable."

"That envelope…I don't know. It seems dangerous somehow." The girl said, voicing her concerns.

"Perhaps you're right. It is one of the more unusual items I've come across, at least." Watanuki shivered where she sat.

"Seriously?!" She yelped. "If you think it's unusual then it must be pretty dangerous!" As if to terrify the girl, Yuko picked up the envelope and started unwrapping the string from around it. "Hey! Be careful with that thing! What if that string is some kind of seal?!"

"No…I don't think so." Yuko said, her face looking like the face a curious cat would make. "This is just ordinary string. She must've wrapped it up like this to make herself feel better." Yuko pulled the last of the string off with a flick of her wrist and the force opened up the envelope and something white came flying out, drifting down right past Watanuki's face and onto the floor. The girl shrieked, startled and terrified by what it could be. She threw her arms over her face and peeked out to see what it was, curious just like Yuko. Her shriek faded away as she looked down and saw that it was a picture of a woman. The woman had long, brown hair that fell to her shoulder blades, she was wearing a blue skirt and a white, long-sleeved shirt, and she was holding a sunhat, her back turned to whoever was taking the picture. It had been a sunny day, the blue sky bright with only a few white clouds in the background. It seemed so…ordinary.

"So that's it?" Watanuki asked, still looking at the picture.

"Yep, 'fraid so." Yuko said, resting her elbows on the table and clasping her hands together.

"But it looks just like an ordinary photograph."

"Are you sure about that?" Yuko asked.

"Well…I don't see anything strange about it…" Watanuki leaned down to get a closer look. "It looks like any other run of the mill snapshot.

"Then you must feel pretty silly for screaming like a girl, riiiight?" Yuko asked.

"Right!" Mokona agreed.

"First off: I am a girl! So screaming like a girl is what I do because I am a girl!" Watanuki snapped. "And second: it felt completely different when it was in the envelope! I could feel cold chills running up and down my spine!" And then it hit Watanuki. "Maybe the envelope's the problem! Maybe it's cursed!"

Mokona waddled over to Yuko and took the envelope from her, looking it over for a moment before leaping at the girl, sticking it right on her face with a laugh. When the paper touched her skin, Watanuki freaked out, believing that it really was cursed and started screaming and wriggling around, trying to get Mokona off of her. And then she suddenly stopped.

"Well?" Yuko asked.

"No, it's not the envelope." Watanuki said, sweatdropping and sitting down normally. Mokona was still attached to her face, grinning like an idiot.

"And what do you suppose that means?" Yuko asked next. Mokona unstuck itself from the seer's face and waddled back across the table to finish its cup of tea, setting the envelope down.

"So that means…" Watanuki looked down at the picture again, scared of what was wrong with it, but she couldn't figure it out. After ten minutes of staring, Yuko finished her cake and tasked Watanuki with cleaning up, having decided that it was high time they both retired to sleep. And Watanuki ended up staying the night because it was way too late to walk home, so she just consoled herself with the fact that she had the foresight to bring her schoolbag and a change of uniform and her jacket when Yuko had called her so late with her cake request. There was nothing more tiring than dealing with Yuko's whims, but on the up side, she could crash at Yuko's place when she'd completed those tiring errands.

The next day as school, Watanuki gave Wari the chocolates she made him for Valentine's Day, blushing sweetly and then asking the boy if he wanted to eat his cake during lunch with her. He agreed, smiling cutely at the raven and sending her heart aflutter. They took their lunch in the empty cooking classroom, sitting at one of the counters as Watanuki served her special Valentine's Day cake to her crush. Wari smiled again as he cut into the small cake with his fork, letting the melty center ooze over his plate. Watanuki explained what had happened in the shop the previous evening as she poured coffee, trying to get all her fears and apprehensions out in the open so she could talk to someone about then without Yuko teasing her for being spineless.

"So the photograph is the problem?" Wari asked.

"That's the way it seems anyway." Watanuki said, setting down Wari's cup of coffee. She then poured herself a cup and got ready to eat her own cake. "But you wouldn't know it just by looking at it. It's a normal looking picture of a pretty girl in a sundress with her back turned to you."

"That's really weird." Wari commented, looking up at the girl from his seat.

"But it's just a snapshot, so how bad could it be?"

"Where is it now?" Wari asked. "Is Yuko keeping it at her shop?"

"Uh huh. She's got it in a frame sitting in her living room." Watanuki turned to reach for her cup of coffee and take a sip, the rim almost to her lips. But before her could a hand came out of nowhere and snatched the cup out from right under her nose. The girl turned in shock to see who it was and found Doumeki downing the cup in a few swallows. She gaped at his rudeness and let him have it.

"YOU IDIOT!" She waved her fists at the jerkass. "Did you just think you could come up and steal my coffee?!" She didn't even notice the huge bag of chocolates that Doumeki was carrying around. But Wari did.

"That's quite a bit you're carrying there!" The curly-haired boy commented. "Good Valentine's Day?"

"Yeah, I guess so." The archer replied, finishing the coffee.

"I'm not surprised. You're a pretty popular guy." Wari said. And then he held up his own bag of chocolates which was just as full as Doumeki's. a sweet (but gloating) smile on his face as they compared gifts. Watanuki took one look at both bags and fell into a depression, knowing that the two boys that she hung out with were really popular with the girls and that she had basically no chance to snag Wari. She didn't care about Doumeki, that bastard could go to hell! _Man, he's not that special! He's just Doumeki! _Okay, maybe she cared a little.

"What's that you got there?" Doumeki asked, eyeing Wari's cake.

"Watanuki made me a French pastry called le fondant au chocolat for me. The melted center is great, it's nice and warm!" Watanuki basked in the boy's compliment, but before she knew it, Doumeki had walked up to _her_ cake and took a bite, abandoning his cup for something better.

"AHHHHHH!" Her hand were instantly on his collar, trying to choke the living daylights out of him as she shook him back and forth. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"You're right." Doumeki said as he was pushed back and forth. "The chocolate center is great. Nice and warm."

"Spit it out! Spit it out now!" Watanuki ordered, letting go of Doumeki to clench her fists in frustration at his behavior. "I made those especially for Valentine's!"

"I don't get it." The archer stated. "You make food you don't want people to eat?" Truth be told, Doumeki was quite pleased that he'd gotten to steal Watanuki's food. It was a simple pleasure he enjoyed on a daily basis.

"Of course they should eat it, but they shouldn't!" The girl shouted. What she really had meant to say was that Doumeki wasn't allowed to eat if because the cake wasn't for him, but it came out all weird. "Hold on a second, I'm all confused now." Watanuki crossed her arms to think about it and Doumeki took another bite of cake while she did. "Oh well, whatever!" And then she noticed that Doumeki had eaten half her cake.

"It's always so much fun to see you two joke around together like this!" Wari said with a smile. Watanuki gaped, hating that her crush thought that they did this for fun! She melted into the floor in mortification and Doumeki finished the cake.

"Those cakes were special for Valentine's Day!" Watanuki grumbled as she stomped home, other students from her school walking the same way as she was. "And I worked on them all night too! I can't believe that Doumeki had the nerve to eat one! This is the worst…it's the pits!" The girl continued stomping down the street, starting to sweat under her gray jacket. But the more she thought about Doumeki the more pissed she got, remembering just how many gifts and chocolates he'd gotten from other girls. The seer expected that for Wari because he was nice, and sweet and caring towards others, but with Doumeki? She just couldn't see how a guy like him could be so popular! The girl stomped to a halt in the middle of the street and let her annoyance get the better of her.

"Why does a jerk that that get so many chocolates in the first place!?" She shouted, drawing the attention of any students within the sound of her voice (and her voice carried quite a bit). They stopped to gape at the crazy girl as she continued yelling. "Stone-faced slim ball!" But as soon as she got mad, Watanuki's frown cleared up and she beamed from ear to ear. "But that's okay as long as I got to spend some alone time with Wari!" The girl jiggled from side to side like an out of control Slinky, clutching her school bag to her chest. And then she started spinning. "And it was fabulous!" And then the smile disappeared and the frown returned in full-force as the girl stopped spinning and started glaring. She looked into her bag and saw a heart-shaped box of chocolates, just like the ones she'd given Wari, only this box had a different recipient, a more annoying one that Watanuki hadn't been able to give them to. Out of obligation only! "But then Doumeki had to ruin it! That bastard!" And then all the students around Watanuki dashed off, getting as far away from the crazy girl as possible. And so the girl spent the rest of her walk with only herself to argue with.

"Heeeellllooooo." The girl called as she stepped into the shop. A few seconds later, Maru and Moro came running in, dancing around in circles in their socks.

"Watanuki's back! Watanuki's back!" They sang. Watanuki let the girl's do their thing and sat down to unlace her shoes. The twins stopped giggling and waited quietly for the girl to take off her shoes.

"So where's Yuko?" Watanuki asked after the witch didn't appear and order her to do something.

"The mistress is taking a bath!" They replied.

"Huh?" _This early in the afternoon? That's strange. _Watanuki kicked off her shoes and crawled into the hallway, standing up after a few steps and making her way down to the bath to see Yuko. As she approached, the girl could hear the woman humming in the bath, her subtle movements splashing the water around.

The witch was quite enjoying herself in the warm bath. She'd stripped down and washed herself, taking time to clean her body thoroughly before climbing in to soak, pulling her mass of hair up into a bun and then a towel. And of course, she brought some nice beers to sip while she soaked. Mokona was enjoying the beverage too by the looks of it, floating around on its back, balancing its third can in the center of its body. Yuko uncrossed and re-crossed her legs languidly, sipping her beer.

"And drinking too, I bet." The raven sighed. Maru and Moro giggled as they danced around the seer.

"It's beer today!" Moro tattled.

"Fine." Watanuki did some calculations to save Yuko's liver. "She'll probably drink about six cans in the bath so that's six cans I can subtract from dinner."

"Impressive, Watanuki!" The twin's cheered.

"Then again, what the heck. I'm having a pretty good day." The girl smiled. "Maybe I'll let her have an extra one for Valentine's Day." But the girl never made it to the bath. As she walked past the living room, she spotted the picture in the frame that Yuko had put it in. The lady was still standing with her back turned (like she could stand in any other position) and the frame consisted of two pink and white butterflies facing in towards the picture at the top and bottom. They were sitting on a small, round table that Yuko had pulled from another room. Nothing weird. But no matter how ordinary the picture seemed, Watanuki still got the chills whenever she saw it, like now. Staring at the picture gave the girl an odd sense of foreboding, her hands trembling by just staring at the thing. It didn't seem natural and then it did as the same time. It was something she couldn't put her finger on.

"It's just an ordinary picture…isn't it?" She asked out loud to no one in particular, a drop of sweat running down her cheek. No one answered her, even the twins were silent."Of course it is. What's wrong with me?" Watanuki made to walk towards the bath when she stopped again, something about the picture catching her eye. She couldn't figure out what it was but she stared at the frame again and thought she saw something move. _But that can't be…it's a picture right? Pictures don't move. _But the girl was curious now and cautiously walked towards the table. When she reached it, the seer knelt down and looked at the picture again. Nothing out of the ordinary.

"Strange…for a minute it looked different somehow." And then it struck her, the white flourishes on the butterfly frame started oozing, melting as if they were in a hot fire, the globs of material slinking down the frame. The woman in the picture…she started moving…ever so slowly. She stared turning around, her face shadowed. Watanuki's eyes widened in horror and she screamed.

"That thing moved! It moved!" Watanuki shrieked, falling backwards on her ass and throwing her book bag, scattering her papers and notebooks in the process. Soft footsteps were right behind her.

"Yes, so it did." Yuko appeared behind the girl, wearing a blue cloud kimono with a purple moon obi, her hair pinned up in a bun after her bath.

"Yuko!" Watanuki exclaimed, startled. The witch stepped around Watanuki, walking up to the picture and giving it a critical eye.

"I thought I could stop it with that special frame as a seal…I guess I underestimated it's power." The woman in the picture was still moving, slowly turning around. More and more of the frame started melting, the liquid it was becoming sloshing down unnaturally. Watanuki scuttled away yelping and shrieking, hiding behind the moon doors into the room, peeking her head out to watch from a safe distance.

"W-w-w-what is w-wr-wrong with that picture?!" The raven stuttered. "Is is a picture of a ghost?! Is it haunted?! Shouldn't you purify it or something?! Or burn it! Yeah!"

"Believe me, burning a spirit's photograph would never work." Yuko said, looking back at her scared little employee. "It could never be destroyed that easily." She said it so calmly!

"Then what are you going to do?" Watanuki asked fearfully.

"That's up to Yuri." Yuko turned back to the photograph. "It's her decision." Watanuki swallowed, hating the fact that the photo would stay like it was until Yuri decided what to do with it. The frame was melting even faster now, most of the top butterfly being consumed by whatever malice the photo held. The woman finally turned around, her shadowed face illuminated by the sun in the photograph. Her hair twirled around her gracefully, and her eyes were finally revealed behind her bangs. She was smiling.

"It's just a normal picture…isn't it?" Watanuki said, coming out from behind the door to take a closer look. "It looks scary, when it moves, but other than that…she's not threatening…she's just smiling."

"Excuse me!" A voice called out from inside the shop. The woman's voice. Yuri's.

"Wait, I know that voice!" Watanuki recognized her.

"Seems we have a visitor." Yuko said, her eyes narrowing. "I knew she would be back." Maru and Moro escorted Yuri in a few moments later, one on each side. She looked even worse today, her bright, cheery, yellow coat eclipsed by her shifty eyes, nervously clasped hands and air of discomfort. She picked at the threads of her brown skirt every few seconds and then went back to clasping her hands, looking from side to side. When Yuri finally brought her eyes up, she spotted the photo and she gasped in fear. Her hands came to her chest, trembling and she was having a hard time breathing, gasping every breath, the air flowing in and out of her lungs broken and hitched.

"As you see, I can't control it." Yuko said, breaking the ice. "I used a powerful seal and yet, it can't be contained. The girl in the photo must have something important to say. Something that she desperately wants to convey." The girl in the photo finished turning around, the ribbons of the hat in her hand fluttering with her hair. Watanuki watched; the rest of the butterflies melting away until there was only the picture suspended to the stand of the frame.

"Have you made your decision?" Yuko asked, a little forcefully.

"I…I-I don't know." Yuri caved into herself, hugging her arms as she shook and trembled.

"You have to decide what you're going to do with it." Yuko repeated.

"But I don't know!" The woman in the picture was waving now, her face happy. And then another person stepped into the picture, a purple coated back blocking out half the frame. Watanuki gasped as the other person shrunk, walking forward towards the brunette woman. It was Yuri! Yuri was in the picture too! She was holding something, maybe a camera and both women were talking. All of a sudden, a blur of yellow and brown dashed past Yuko and Watanuki, grabbing the photo and frame and hugging it close to her chest, hiding it.

"Don't look!" Yuri gasped out, kneeling on the floor to hide the picture better. She was crying now, huge sobs wracking her body. _Why is this woman so terrified? _Watanuki watched her with growing concern. _The photo shows nothing but happiness. If she didn't want it seen she could've just burned it or ripped it to shreds. _Watanuki's brain circled to what Yuko had said earlier and the girl looked at the witch. _But wait a minute…Yuko said burning it wouldn't do any good. But in that case, she could've just hidden it somewhere. _The room narrowed down to the three women, as if they were the only ones that existed so perfectly in this room. Nothing outside its walls mattered.

"You wanted to rid yourself of that photo, am I right?" Yuko asked, walking up behind Yuri. "But you were scared. And the reason for that is…that image is a reflection of your past. You see, a picture always reflects the past. It captures a moment in time and reflects it honestly, unlike a painting, which can display emotions as well. At times, a photograph can reflect things you don't want to see." Yuri shot up at this, looking back at Yuko and shaking. The last of the frame melted away. She tightened her grip on the picture frame and doing so allowed the photo to slid out, slipping from her grasp and fluttering to the floor in front of everyone.

Yuri in the picture was smiling, wrapping the camera cord around her wrist and reaching out with both hands to the brunette woman. She was standing demurely, holding her sunhat in both hands by her thighs. They were smiling. Yuri's hands came to her shoulders and they stood like that for a moment. One endless moment. And then Yuri pushed the woman back forcefully. She fell out of the picture, her hat flying into the air, her hands grasping for something to stop her fall but they too vanished off of the border of the picture.

"N-no…It was an accident." Yuri whispered, her hands on the frame that she'd put on the floor. She crumpled into herself again as she spoke, sobbing. "Even the police said so. They said she lost her footing and fell of the cliff. "

"Is that so?" Yuko asked, walking around Yuri to kneel in front of her. The witch's fingers came up under Yuri's chin, pulling her head up. "Then why are you kneeling here on the floor crying?" Yuko stood up again now that she'd gotten her customer to look up. "And more importantly…what do you want from me?"

"I want you too…please…" The woman pointed to the picture on the floor, the one of her facing away from the camera. "Get rid of it! Just make it go away!"

"A payment is required of that." Yuko said, always a stickler for balance and compensation. Yuri held her head in her hands, squeezing her eyes shut tightly.

"I don't care! I'll do anything." Even to Watanuki's unpracticed sense of compensation; that was not something that sat well with her. Yuko could literally do anything if Yuri said that (not that she would), but words were powerful things, the seer had learned that much. You don't go throwing around words like "anything" without consequences. And Yuko was going to back her up.

"You should be more careful with your words." Yuko chastised neutrally. "Saying you'll do 'anything' is never a statement you should take lightly."

"I don't care!" Yuri repeated. Watanuki looked at the photograph. The picture was rotating around to Yuri's front as she looked over the cliff. "I'll do anything to be free of this torture."

"Very well." Yuko reached down and picked up the picture, holding it between her middle and pointer fingers on her right hand. The picture was facing Watanuki, and she watched at the room filled with smoke and Yuko preformed the closest thing to magic that the girl had ever seen. The picture started dissolving! Staring in the right bottom corner, the photograph was disintegrating out of existence. Soon it was just a scrap of paper in Yuko's hand, but that didn't stop Watanuki from seeing picture-Yuri's face before it disappeared. The woman was looking down at her carnage, smiling sickly as her friend fell to her death. Her eyes were narrowed maliciously, her lipsticked mouth pulled into a horrifying grin. It scared Watanuki and she had to take a step back, shivering at the image before it finally faded away. It would only be a little longer before the picture completely disappeared. Yuri was nervously looking around, watching at the picture that haunted her disappeared forever, when she spotted Watanuki's book bag strewn all over the floor. Sitting near it was the box of chocolates that Watanuki hadn't given away yet and that seemed to spark something in the woman's eyes. Her face contorted, from shocked, to scared to angry and back to scared.

"She was always like that…she only stole what was mine." Yuri whispered. "She knew I liked him, but she still gave him chocolates on Valentine's Day." Her fist clenched, a sharp anger tearing through her fear. "And in the end, she stole from me again. She said she needed me…but she really just used me whenever it was convenient for her." The last of the photograph disintegrated, the smoke clearing from the room magically as Yuko finished.

"The photograph is gone from this world," Yuko stared, her arm coming down to rest at her side. "I promise that you will never see that image again. However, there is something I must as of you in return and this condition must never be violated."

"Of course, I'll do whatever you want me to. Just tell me." Yuri composed herself, more calm now that her murder would be kept secret in this world.

"Your image must never be captured by a visual medium." Yuko stated. Yuri looked confused. Watanuki was upset that Yuko was letting this woman get away with murder, but Yuko had her contract with Yuri and Watanuki knew she couldn't interfere.

"You must avoid having your picture taken at all times. Avoid getting caught on any film or video or projections. Do you understand what I'm saying?" Yuri stayed silent. "If you are photographed, her image will appear with yours and show the entire world the truth." Yuri's face morphed back into terror as the price for her wish was laid out. "It's easy to avoid being photographed, however, what if you were to appear on a television program? Her image would appear on that program as well and the show's viewers would see what we just saw."

"It can't be…!" Yuri gasped. She thought her worst nightmare was gone, but it was back to haunt her again, in the form of her price.

"You said you would do anything to be free." Yuko repeated. "_You _made that decision." Yuri looked absolutely devastated and she left soon after that, her feet dragging behind her as the shop's door closed. Watanuki saw her off but she was still mad that the woman for committing murder and still mad that Yuko had let her get away with it.

They ended up on the porch that evening, the waning crescent moon hanging above them in the sky. Yuko was smoking her pipe and Mokona was drinking as Watanuki sat next to them. The girl tore her gaze from the moon to look at the heart box in her hand, the red ribbon shimmering in the soft light.

"Do you think she really did it? Did she really push that girl?" The raven asked, breaking the silence.

"Judging from the way she was panicking and from the way she was mumbling to herself after she saw your Valentine's chocolates, I'm assuming that she did."

"But if that's so, then shouldn't we report it to the police?" Watanuki asked.

"But the photograph is already gone now." Yuko said, a small smile gracing her lips. "What proof do we have to show them?"

"I don't understand…why did you make the photo disappear?"

"Because that's what she asked me to do, Watanuki." She didn't sound too pleased with her actions either, her voice hard. Yuko took a puff of her pipe, the smoke billowing into the night sky as she breathed it out. Mokona loudly drank its whiskey, the ice in the glass clinking in the pause.

"But she may have murdered someone…" Watanuki trailed off.

"True. And a murderer should carry the burden of what they did. You think I let her off lightly, don't you?" Watanuki had been thinking that. "It is impossible to avoid having your image captured for the rest of your life. You never know…you could get caught in the background of someone else's photograph. Someone out there could be filming a TV show or a movie. And when was the last time you saw a store without any security cameras in it? And think of all those video camera displays hooked up at electronic stores. Do you really think you could avoid appearing on one of them? There are cameras everywhere…just how long do you think you could stay hidden?" It made sense now. Yuko had turned the wish into her price, the wish of getting the image erased turned into the price of never having her image shown again, the same fate. "Although…there is one way you could pull it off."

"What is it?" Watanuki asked quietly. Yuko puffed her pipe again.

"If you never went outside…if you never saw anyone again for the rest of your life." Watanuki shivered at the prospect of a life alone. She didn't think she could endure something like that, not after finding friends and people that she liked to be with. "Remember what I said? A murderer should forever carry the burden of what they've done. And there's more than one way to end a life."

Watanuki walked home that night trying to understand what life would be like if she were stuck in her house all the time, unable to go out and see people, even just a walk would be terrifying if she didn't want her picture taken by someone else accidently. It was too depressing to think about. The girl clutched her Valentine's chocolates in her hand as she walked down the street, the box meaning so much more now that she knew at one point that something like this had driven Yuri to murder when the man she loved was taken by the girl in the picture. She didn't want to give these to Doumeki anymore! But, the girl had already eaten enough chocolate taste testing for Wari's box that she really didn't want any more chocolate in her apartment. Best to get rid of this box so she could stop being reminded of Yuri altogether.

Watanuki slowly made her way to Doumeki's temple, entering the courtyard and walking quietly past the rows of trees to Doumeki's porch. She crawled up the stairs and left the box by the door, feeling a little guilty that she hadn't just slipped it discreetly in his huge bag of chocolates at school, that way he'd have no idea it was hers. But who cared? He was probably expecting obligation chocolates from her anyway since they were…uh…gah…haldkfariadfljld…friends. Sort of. Kind of. It was a hard thing to wrap her head around, okay?! Watanuki crawled back down the stairs and quietly left the temple. And if Doumeki said anything tomorrow about receiving the most fabulous, glorious box of heavenly chocolates, she'd deny that they were hers to hell and back. Watanuki stole one last glance of the heart-shaped box propped up by the door, illuminated by the moonlight, before she turned the corner. Yuri's picture wouldn't leave her head for a long time, she knew that. All she could hope for was that her next Valentine's Day wouldn't be so depressing.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"Well then, I'm off!" Watanuki smiled and waved back and Yuko as she sat down to put on her shoes. "I think I'm going to accept your offer. I could use a lazy day off tomorrow." Watanuki reached for her shoes, slipping her feet into them as she sat in the _genkan_.

"Hold on…" Yuko asked, putting a hand on her white, skirted hip. Mokona was rest in the crook of her other arm and Maru and Moro were standing behind them, watching the girl as she prepared to leave. You was wearing a brown, long sleeved shirt with a pink tsubaki flower depicted on the front and that had a halter neck instead of a traditional one and had paired that with her white pencil skirt nad orange tassel earrings. The only reason Watanuki paid that much attention to such an ordinary outfit (for Yuko that is) was because Yuko wasn't wearing something outrageous like she normally did. "What does that sly smile mean?"

"Nothing at all." Watanuki threw her answer over her shoulder, tying up her brown outside shoes as she did. "I'm just happy to get a day off for a change." Yuko stared down at the girl…more specifically her shoes.

"Those shoes…they're brand new, aren't they?" The witched asked. Watanuki sat up, having tired her shoes…or so she thought. In fact, as the seer grabbed her school bag and her shopping bag, she'd left on shoe untied in her hurry to leave.

"They sure are!" She said.

"New, shiny shoes!~" Maru cheered, clapping her hands with her twin's.

"New, shiny shoes!~" Moro repeated.

"Is this your first time wearing them?" Yuko asked.

"No, I tried them on last night." Watanuki replied, wondering where Yuko was going with this. They were just shoes after all.

"Did you hear that? She put new shoes on at night!" Maru said, shocked, tucking her head behind Yuko's back and whispering to her twin.

"Did you hear that? She put new shoes on at night!" Moro repeated, copying her sister's movement.

"Huh? What?" Watanuki asked, concerned that the twins knew something about her shoes more than she did. And they sounded pretty shocked.

"She's not supposed to do that!~ She's not supposed to do that!~" The twins grabbed each other's hands and danced around in a circle behind Yuko.

"Huh?" Watanuki said again.

"Don't you know the proverb?" Yuko asked. "That its bad luck to try new shoes on at night?"

"Oh yeah." Watanuki answered. "I've head of that one before somewhere. But it's an old wife's tale, right? Some kind of old superstition or something like that?"

"Listen to Ms. Skeptic over here!" Mokona huffed and jumped out of Yuko's arms, poking the girl in the chest before jumping back, as if to make a point but not really making one at all. Watanuki scratched her head.

"Stuff like that…I don't really…you know…"

"Believe in it?" Yuko finished.

"Yeah."

"You don't believe in it?" Mokona asked.

"'Fraid not." Watanuki shrugged.

"Well, alright then. As they say: to each his own."

"See ya!" Watanuki said cheerfully, turning to walk out of the store. As she did so, the girl stepped on the shoelace that wasn't tied, her balance disrupted and she couldn't pick up her trapped foot to catch herself. She fell to the floor spectacularly in a heap, her face, elbows and knees hurting where she'd hit the stone tiles. Her skirt flipped up in the process of falling, revealing Watanuki's underwear with cute little black cats on it. Yuko chuckled at that too, shaking her head.

"Ah!" The twins exclaimed. Watanuki laughed at her clumsiness, and let go of her bags to push herself up to hands and knees.

"I tripped over my shoelace!" She laughed again.

"You don't believe, _huh_?" Mokona said snarkily. Watanuki looked back to glare at the fur ball but then noticed that Yuko was the one smiling smugly.

"Believe in what? I just tripped." The girl sat up and rolled onto her butt, making sure to tie both of her shoes this time. She stood up again and grabbed her bags, glad to be almost out of the house of weirdos. "See you later." She waved and walked out, shaking her head at Yuko's expression, letting the door click shut behind her. She was ready for her day off, and none of Yuko's or Mokona's superstitious comments would get in her way.

The next morning was Sunday, the girl's day off of school and work. For as long as she could remember at this point, Watanuki had been working every day of the week for Yuko since beginning her contract – never getting a break or a day off. So it was satisfying to open her eyes at ten in the morning, the sun peeking through her curtained windows. The girl stretched lazily and yawned, reaching for her glasses to make the blurry world clear again. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and stretched her arms above her head again before crawling out of her futon. She didn't even bother folding up her blanket or rolling up her mat – she planned to spend all day lounging on them. Watanuki got up and went to the bathroom, brushing her hair and letting it hang down past her shoulders freely, only pinning her bangs out of her face with those white and yellow tsubaki hairpins that someone had secretly given her, put on deodorant and peed before coming out to make breakfast for just herself. After that was taken care of, the seer left her dishes in the sink and changed into a comfy outfit (a blue tank top and loose grey pants) and grabbed herself a snack for the later morning: consommé punch potato chips. It was a weird taste that she'd picked up from Yuko the one time the witch wanted her to buy all the flavors of chips at the grocery store so she could taste them all. She'd eaten almost every one (except the anchovy flavor and the steak flavor because they were "too weird" and Watanuki thought that was rich coming from a woman with a dark tunnel leading to Ginza in her receiving room and a vase that could transport you places instantly depending on the image painted on it and a storehouse filled with other weird things). The consommé punch chips were one of the rejects and Watanuki had tried one chip…and then took the whole bag home. So, she'd stocked up on that flavor the next day, not knowing if the store would have them for long (1). And they'd kinda stuck with her.

After grabbing her snack, the girl grabbed all the Macaroni Horenso volumes that she'd borrowed from the shop after remembering that Yuko had said it was the best manga to come out of the seventies. Even if Yuko was really strange, she was serious about her manga so it had to be fabulous. She placed the manga issues on the floor and walked over to her desk, opening up her curtains and flooding the room with light. Ka, her goldfish, was swimming contently in her fishbowl and the girl sprinkled some fish food into her water so she could eat. The goldfish swan up to the top of the bol and caught food in her mouth, her goldish-red scales shining in the late morning sun. Watanuki smimled at her pet and watched her for a few minutes, remembering how she'd gotten the fish in the first place. If it hadn't been for Doumeki, the girl would've never caught a fish at the festival. But Ka had been a nice addition to her apartment, making the girl feel as if she wasn't alone all the time when she was home. She was easy to take care of, beautiful and it was nice to have someone to come home too, even if that someone was a fish.

After watching her fish eat and swim for a few moments, Watanuki flopped down on her futon again and opened up the first volume, holding the book above her head one-handedly and got started reading. By the second page, she was laughing her head off, munching on her chips contently as she chuckled. _Today if the first paid vacation day that I've ever gotten from Yuko. It's kinda nice to take a break once in a while. _

"This guy's a genius!" Watanuki laughed again, reading on in the manga. By the time lunch had rolled around, she'd blown through half of her stack and went to make herself some lunch, still reading Macaroni as she slurped on noodles. The girl took a nap an hour later, setting down her manga for a little bit as she lazily dreamed the afternoon away. When she woke up, it was back to Macaroni Horenso until the suns started setting. The world outside the apartment dimmed, the light slipping behind the building and the horizon. The shadows of the people who were walking around outside lengthened, the people in their homes flipping on lights one by one, preparing for the evening. Watanuki's lights had been on all day, so she didn't have to get up until her stomach growled at her, signaling that she needed to eat again.

"Ug. Man, I'm getting hungry." Watanuki sighed, closing her book with a snap and rolling onto her side to put it down with the rest of the finished manga. She then reached behind her to grab the last one that Yuko had kept in the shop (in that particular place anyway…she could have others lurking around somewhere), but as she felt around for it, her fingers didn't brush against the book. Instead all she could feel was the tatami mats beneath her hand. "Where…?" The girl knew it had to be there, she'd hadn't moved them from beside her futon except the one she took with her when she ate lunch.

"You know you're missing the last issue, right?" A voice asked. Watanuki was supposed to be the only one here – it was her apartment after all! The girl shot up, recognizing the voice and it pissed her off instantly.

"What the hell is this?!" She shook a fist at the archer angrily. "Where did you come from all of a sudden?! How did you get in here?! Answer me!" Doumeki was directly in front of her, her borrowed manga stacked next to right side and a wrapped box sitting on his left, leaning against the wall, sitting with his feet propped on the floor; his legs open for his elbows to rest on as he read the volume of manga Watanuki was searching for. The brunette was wearing a burgundy, long sleeved shirt and grey pants and his presence startled Watanuki in more ways than one. First: he was in her house when she knew she'd kept the door locked. She hadn't needed to go out today so the door had been locked since last night when she went to bed. Second: it was Doumeki who was in her house! Third: he wasn't wearing his uniform or his archery uniform so it threw her off to see him so casual (and, though she'd never admit it to anyone else…he looked good).

"You're even dumber than I thought." Doumeki said, looking at the girl with his emotionless face. "I know where your spare key is, remember? I brought you home after the demon parade."

"Oh, yeah." The girl remembered that he had, and that she'd woken up next to a half naked Doumeki in the morning. The girl blushed, half mortified at the thought (which she hadn't been able to get out of her head for some time after that had happened) and half pissed off that he'd made her remember that again (and she couldn't stop thinking about what Doumeki looked like under his shirt…in fact…she couldn't stop thinking about Doumeki in his boxers either).

"You know, I could hear you laughing from the bottom of the stairs." Watanuki's hand came up and snatched the book out of the boy's hands.

"That's none of your business! Don't read those before I do!" She snarled that he'd somehow gotten into her house…_again_. He was like a stalker! "Now what are you doing here anyway?!"

Doumeki reached to his left side and pushed the cloth wrapped box forward, towards Watanuki. The girl looked down at the box, wondering what could be inside of it. She picked it up, completely ignoring Doumeki and took it to her kitchen table. She pulled at the knot holding the cloth together and let it fall on the table. She lifted up the lid of the box and found treasure inside. It was Matsuzaka beef!

"It was a gift from a supporter of our temple." Doumeki explained as the girl drooled over the raw meat. This was stuff that she could never afford to buy. This beef was one of the three big, highly coveted, beefs that Japanese produced. This beef was globally famous with its high fat-to-meat ratio and it was said to be one of the most delicious things you could cook! _That Doumeki is always getting the good stuff! _Watanuki grumbled to herself. _And I bet he just came over to brag about it! That jerkass! _

"Whoa..Matsuzaka beef!" She was still gaping as she said it.

"And wouldn't you know…" Doumeki started again. "There's no one home today."

"Huh?" Watanuki's head shot up. _What is he getting at!?_

"That means _you're_ going to have to cook it for me. Sukiyaki."

"HUH?!" Watanuki was gaping at Doumeki now, appalled by his lack of manners and his audacity to come into her house uninvited and shove dinner onto her! And then her stomach growled. Watanuki glared down at her stomach and cursed its existence. _Why should I cook for him?! He's being rude like he always is! I don't have to take this! This is my house! _But then her stomach growled again, telling her that Matsuzaka beef was not something she could eat every day…even if Doumeki was the one who brought it over. _If I cook it…I can have some…that's a pretty good deal…NO! I don't want to cook for that bastard! But the meat…_Watanuki glared at Doumeki. He stared back.

"Fine! I'll cook it." She gave in, throwing her hands up in the air. "You'd probably ruin it if you cooked it anyway!"

"What a good little housewife." Doumeki replied.

"I am not a housewife! Especially to you!" Watanuki snarled, snatching up the beef to go cut it and the other ingredients that they'd need for a sukiyaki pot dinner. Doumeki watched the girl stomp to the counter.

"I thought it was cute." He commented.

"Get out! Of my kitchen!" Watanuki pointed to her bedroom/living room.

"Why are you always kicking me out?" He asked, walking where her pointing finger was directing him too.

"Because you're an ass!"

"You're an ass." He shot back, his tone the same as always. Watanuki gaped at him again, her mouth dropping to the floor in shock. Doumeki leaned back and looked behind Watanuki, his eyes on her butt. "And I like your ass."

"GET OUT!" Watanuki shoved Doumeki out of the kitchen, knife in hand and growled at him before turning back to the beef. "If you say anything else I'm kicking you out of my house and you don't get any dinner!"

"Too bad you're wearing pants today." Doumeki goaded the girl again. He found a knife embedded into the wall next to his head where Watanuki had thrown it as a threat. The girl was panting in frustration and Doumeki calmly sat down, deciding that now was not the best time to egg her on. Instead, he stared at her butt when she turned back to the counter, picking up one of her manga volumes as a cover so that she didn't catch him staring.

"If it wasn't for that Matsuzaka beef, I'd get rid of that jerkass so fast that it's crazy." Watanuki grumbled to herself as she cut tofu into squares for the pot. It had been a full five minutes and Doumeki had been quiet the whole time…no jibes at her butt, her temper or her "slowness" in getting dinner ready. Watanuki was kind of scared about what he was doing in the other room – it was her bedroom after all. The girl slowly looked behind her and saw Doumeki reading her manga. Unbeknownst to her, he had been looking at her butt up until the moment she'd turned around.

"HEY YOU!" Watanuki waved her other knife in the air. "Like I said: don't read them before I do!" She snapped. Doumeki didn't do as she said and she knew he wouldn't. "Well, then you'd better put it right back where you found in when you're done!" She growled and turned back to the food. Doumeki smiled to himself. She hadn't told him to put it down right away like the old Watanuki would. It was a small step, but a step nonetheless. With the girl distracted, now Doumeki could carry out his true goal: finding her panty drawer.

As much as he'd like to continue watching Watanuki, he really, really wanted to know where she kept all her cute underwear. It was a quest. He'd have to be quiet, stealthy and quick to find the drawer before Watanuki was done cutting stuff up for sukiyaki. Doumeki put down his manga and crawled over to her low dresser. He carefully pulled out the far left drawer and found socks. He shut it quickly and moved on. The one below that had her uniforms in it, skirts, shirts and a spare jacket for the winter uniform. The next had her casual pants, and the next? Shirts and tank tops. Doumeki moved onto the next drawer, knowing that his time was running out. Bingo. Bras and underwear. The archer gazed into the drawer, his eyes darting from one cute pair of underwear to the next, finding a plethora of lacy, polka dotty, bow-y panties. It was a treasure trove of Watanuki's teasing undergarments. Having achieved his goal. Doumeki stored away the location of "the drawer" for later and crept back to his spot on the floor. He peeked into the kitchen as he picked up the manga again. Watanuki was none the wiser, still preparing dinner. Doumeki smiled to himself and went back to reading.

When Watanuki was done in the kitchen, she brought in a platter of meat, a platter of vegetables and tofu to put in the pot, the broth and set up her low table with her portable burner and a large sauce pan as a substitute for a sukiyaki pot. She set out bowls and chopstick for both of them before sitting down, crossing her legs Indian style under the table. Doumeki sat down on the other side and Watanuki turned on the burner, the blue flames leaping to life to warm up the pan.

"You don't have a regular sukiyaki pot?" Doumeki asked, his first words in minutes sounding like an insult to Watanuki's ears when he was really just asking why they were using a saucepan.

"I live alone! Why would I have something like that! I don't do much entertaining!" Watanuki shot back.

"On the contrary, you're very entertaining."

"Shut the hell up!" Watanuki reached for the teapot of broth called warishita and was about to pour it into the pot to start cooking.

"What are you doing?" Doumeki asked, watching the girl with his deadpan face.

"Huh? I need to put in the warishita, Doumeki."

"Sauté the meat first." He ordered.

"You cook the meat after you do the broth." Watanuki argued back.

"I want Kansai-style sukiyaki." Doumeki said, requesting the Western-style dish. "You have to cook the meat first thing, and then season it with sugar and some soy sauce." As the boy was speaking, Watanuki's face was getting angrier and angrier, her fangs showing. She slammed down the container of broth onto the table growling at her guest.

"Let me cook it my way or cook it yourself!" Watanuki demanded. Doumeki stared at her for a second, not liking the way their first married couple-like argument was going and then decided that he'd cook it himself if she was going to cook it Kanto-style instead of Kansai. He picked up his chopsticks and placed two slices of beef in the pot, hearing it start to sizzle.

"Uwwwaaaahhhh!" Watanuki gasped. "You didn't even put in oil!" She dumped in some oil and then snuck in the broth for added measure. She wasn't going to let Doumeki have his way in her house – it just wasn't going to happen.

"Ha! Looks like we're having Kanto-style sukiyaki! In your face!" The girl gloated evilly, laughing at Doumeki. It was a small victory, but a victory nonetheless. He just stared back at her. Watanuki kept smiling smugly as she grabbed the plate of veggies and tofu and started placing the ingredients in one by one. Doumeki, hating to lose to his crush, grabbed everything on the plate with one hand and dumped it into the makeshift pot childishly while maintaining his calm demeanor.

"Geeeyoooooo!" The seer vocalized again, gawking at Doumeki's actions. She picked up some of the ingredients and held it up to his face. "You aren't supposed to put these in until the end! Otherwise everything will smell like it!" But Doumeki wasn't done yet. He picked up the bag of sugar Watanuki had brought it and dumped some into the pot. "Yeeeeeeee!" Then Doumeki grabbed the bottle of soy sauce and dumped some in as well. "Daaaaaahhhhhh!" And then he stirred it all together and grabbed some of the sukiyaki out and held it over his bowl before shoving it in his mouth. Watanuki was still shrieking, her face ghostly white as Doumeki just cooked himself.

"Shall we eat?" He asked, taking a bite of their Kanto-Kansai sukiyaki and wondering if it was always going to be like this: he and Watanuki would fight and one of them would force a compromise whether they liked it or not. It seemed to happen enough times.

"If you're going to make it yourself then why did you come?!" Watanuki snapped. Doumeki just gave her a look, his eyebrows raising slightly.

"Jerkass!"

"Idiot."

"Bastard!"

"Moron."

"Just shut up and eat!"

"You shut up and eat!"

"Hey!"

"Oi."

"My name is not 'oi!'"

"Just eat."

"I will!" Watanuki grabbed some meat and shoved it in her mouth, losing herself in the deliciousness of the Matsuzaka…even if Doumeki had ruined the style of the dish. They each took turns taking from the pot until they got down to the last strip of meat, over which, they had a chopstick fight in the middle of the pot which Doumeki won. But instead of eating the whole thing, he bit off half of the strip and then held out the rest to Watanuki. The girl gasped and stared at the meat, wondering what he could be doing, so she asked.

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" Doumeki replied, still holding up the meat. "If you don't want it I'll eat it."

"No! I want it." She blushed slightly, reaching out to take the meat in her own chopsticks.

"Just eat it off of mine." Doumeki said, moving his chopsticks back. He wanted to feed the girl the last piece, just to see if she'd do it. And because he wanted to feed her.

"Why should I?" The girl snarled, staring at the meat but not wanting to eat if off is his chopsticks.

"Fine then." Doumeki opened his mouth to drop the Matsuzaka into it when Watanuki reached out her hand.

"Stop! I want it!" Doumeki did stop and held out the meat again. Watanuki glared at him, a light blush dusting her cheeks.

"Say, 'ah.'" Doumeki prompted, wiggling his chopsticks. Watanuki's glare deepened, as did her blush. The archer waited for her to do it.

"Ah."Watanuki opened her mouth, hating that she was giving into him. What it always going to be like this? Would she always lose out to him and did what he said? But right now, those questions didn't matter because the brunette was placing the delicious meat in her mouth. She chewed thoughtfully, savoring the last bite and refusing to look Doumeki in the eye. She hated losing to him. "Fanks." She said as quietly as she could. Doumeki still heard her and smiled internally, happy that he had shared. The old him would've just eaten the last bite. Watanuki flopped on the ground, softly patting her stomach as she smiled over the meal.

"Man, I'm stuffed! I ate so much I can't even move!" She sighed contently, the weird feeding episode over.

"You'll turn into a cow if you lay down right after you eat." Doumeki commented. Watanuki scoffed at him.

"Have you actually seen anyone turn into a cow?" She replied sarcastically.

"If they turn into cows, how can you tell if they used to be humans or not?" A cross vein popped out on the seer's forehead.

"Take your old kitchen tales and get the hell out of here if you're done!" Watanuki held out her hand. "But before you go…can you hand me those manga volumes over there…please?" Doumeki rolled his eyes at her and did as he was told. He even took the dishes into the kitchen and washed them off as Watanuki giggled at her manga. But instead of leaving, her plopped back down on the floor and watched the girl.

"What are you doing?" The raven voice held a threat as she peeked out from behind her comic book.

"Nothing."

"Then why are you still here?"

"Don't want to leave yet."

"Why the hell not?!" Watanuki glared at him again.

"Because."

"Because why?"

"No reason. I just want to stay." Doumeki got up again and walked over to the girl's desk. He'd noticed that she was wearing his hair clips and as he looked down into the fish bowl, he saw that the goldfish he'd won her was doing just fine. "What's her name?" He asked, pointing to the fish.

"If you must know, it's Ka." Watanuki huffed, looking up at her desk from the floor.

"That's a good name. Its means 'summer,' right?"

"Yeah." Watanuki turned back to her manga. Doumeki smiled a little to himself. 'Ka' was also apart of his name and that made him happy, whether Watanuki had done that on purpose or not. Doumeki stuck around a little while longer, just being his quiet self and watching Watanuki. He left after another hour, thanking Watanuki for helping him cook. She scoffed at him and reminded that he'd ruined the dish…but that it still tasted good anyway.

As the two teens conversed, Yuko was having a horrible night at the shop.

"With Watanuki gone we don't have a decent thing to eat around this place." Yuko sighed, lounging on her couch in one of her more odd dresses. It was long and yellow, decorated with a huge white lilly on the cloth and a purple collar necklace and she'd pulled her hair up into a big bun and accessorized with a huge lily pinned in her locks. The witch sighed and sipped at her sake, picking at the snacks she had laid out before her. But she really didn't feel like eating, wondering how she ever lived without Watanuki's cooking.

"IIIIII'mmmmmm staaaaarrrrvvvvinggggg…" Mokona groaned, flopped on the floor. Maru and Moro suddenly rose into view and turned to face their mistress. In their hands they held two trays of hot food.

"Watanuki left some extra treats!" Maru said, smiling.

"We just microwaved them!" Moro finished.

"Yay!" Yuko and Mokona both leapt up and high fived.

"Go Watanuki!" Yuko added cheerfully.

"A whole dried fish in one gulp!" Mokona said, gobbling down the whole fish in one gulp, just like it had declared.

"Ah! It's nikujaga! I love this stew!" Yuko picked up a potato in her chopsticks and popped it in her mouth. "It's sooooo gooooood!~"

"I wonder if Watanuki had eaten yet!" Maru said, clapping her hands together.

"I wonder if Watanuki had read her manga!" Moro added, copying her twin.

"I wonder if Watanuki has brushed her teeth!" Maru added, looking a little worried as she folded her arms.

"I wonder if Watanuki has finished her homework!" Moro added again, copying her twin. Yuko gulped down another glass of sake.

"I hope she's cooking!" Yuko declared, holding up her chopsticks.

Back at her apartment, Watanuki sneezed, wondering if someone was talking about her.

While Yuko was eating the snacks that Watanuki had left her, the girl herself was having a rough night after Doumeki left. She'd felt heavy for a while, unbalanced, even when she took a bath to make herself feel better. She just couldn't shake the horrible feeling in her stomach and decided to go to bed early. Lying on her futon, the girl groaned to herself in the dim light of the moon.

"Ug. This is awful." She moaned, resting her hands on her stomach. "I feel like I really will turn into a cow, just like Doumeki said. I seriously ate too much."

_Mooooooo…_

Watanuki heard a cow moo somewhere close by. But that couldn't be right…she lived in Tokyo, there were no cows here.

_Moooooo…_

It came again and Watanuki sat up, trying to find the cow that couldn't be there.

"Is that…a cow…?" Watanuki looked around blurrily, scratching her face with her left hoof. "Where is that noise coming from?" And that when she noticed the cloven hoof next to her face. The girl's eye shot wide and she screamed as she looked down to find that her legs weren't her legs anymore: there were cow's legs!

"Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!" The girl screamed again and tried to roll over as she felt her face morphing. Her nose and mouth got longer, protruding in front of her face a long with velvety black skin and hair. Her eyes moved to the sides of her face and her ears moved up, shifting into floppy cow's ears and horn sprouted from her head. The girl screamed and got on all fours, her hooves all flat on the floor. She mooed loudly, trying to call for help when her body expanded, bulging out and shredding her clothes as a tail grew out from her butt. She was a cow! A real cow!

Watanuki's eye shot open, the morning sun chasing away her nightmare. The first thing the girl did after gasping in horror at her dream was to look down to see if she was actually a cow. She wasn't, her human torso, legs and feet staring back at her (along with her incredibly tiny bust size).

"Et, did you pack your gym clothes?" A little girl called from outside of Watanuki's apartment as she stared at her human body. They were the neighbor kids, heading to school for the day.

"Yeah! Is today the pop quiz?" Et replied.

"Boy, I sure hope not!" The kids voices drifted away. That's when Watanuki realized that if the neighbor kids were heading to school, that meant…that she was late.

"Damn, I'm late." The girl sat up, trying to hurry when a pain in her torso had her flopping forward onto her futon, her knees stuck to the ground and her butt stuck in the air. She could hardly move, the pain worsening when she did. "What is wrong with me?" She grumbled, already irritated that her body picked the perfect day not to function properly. The girl tried to scramble around her apartment to get ready quickly, but the best she could do was a moderately slow shamble as she washed her face, pulled her hair up and got dressed. The thought of food had her torso zinging in pain so she skipped breakfast and just grabbed the lunches that she'd made the night before, her stomach roiling at the prospect of eating food later. Then the long walk to school began.

The seer shambled along in the crowd of her classmates on the way to school, barely holding onto her bags and the lunches as she walked, stooped over as if there was a great weight on her shoulders. She was sweating and she didn't feel well at all, the pain and discomfort from this bug was really getting to her. _My body…is so…heavy. It feels…like I'm carrying…a ton of bricks on my back or something! _As the girl stumbled along, a soft hand brushed across her shoulder. The seer turned and found Wari smiling at her. He looked chipper as always but there was one thing out of place…but not out of place per say, just different. He was wearing a red scarf wrapped around his neck, to ward off the chill of the morning, Watanuki guessed. She stopped walking and tried to smile back.

"Hey, Watanuki! How's it going?" Wari asked.

"Hey, Wari." The girl mumbled back, trying to sound at least a little cheerful. It didn't work.

"You look terrible!" The boy's face fell into a concerned expression, his eyes soft. "Are you doing okay?"

"Oh yeah. I'm okay." Watanuki did manage a smile that time, nodding to her friend. _I am so not okay. I hope I don't collapse. _

"If you say so." Wari's smile returned. "Let's go."

"Sure." Watanuki started walking with the boy, trying to keep up to his moderate pace in her condition. 

"You know, this morning I had an upright leaf in my tea!" Wari commented happily, making conversation as they walked together. Watanuki had to resort to putting one had on the walls fencing off houses to keep herself upright.

"Hehehe. Good for you, Wari." Watanuki laughed tiredly.

"It's good luck to find an upright tea leaf!" Watanuki looked ahead at the curly haired boy but her attention was diverted to the red scarf he had on, watching it bounce with his step and ripple in the breeze. Her eyes went wide as something other than the pain in her torso took a hold of her, making her stare at the scarf intently for reasons she couldn't understand.

"Yeah…I've heard…that…I think" Watanuki replied, looking away from the mesmerizing scarf. She didn't know what was wrong now, but she was hooked on that scarf. Watanuki felt something rise in her, a desire to shake her head like a bull, to cry out at the challenge of the red scarf. It was damn weird.

"I know most people just think it's a stilly superstition, but I think it's fun to believe in it if it's a positive thing!" Wari continued on, completely oblivious to Watanuki. The raven's eyes were still glued to the scarf waving in front of her, watching each and every movement like her life depended on it.

"Yeah, so do I." The bull in Watanuki raised its head again, snorting angrily. "It's…kind of fun…" Watanuki tore her eyes away from the red scarf and glanced at her shadow. The darkness on the wall looked like a cow again, but that couldn't be right. Her mind had to be playing tricks on her again, like it had in her dream. She looked up at Wari again, watching the scarf.

"I forget…is it good luck in green tea or black?" Wari asked, turning around to glance back at the seer with a cute smile…one that she didn't want to appreciate right now. With his turn, the red scarf whipped in front of Watanuki, signally the challenge like a Matador in a bull fight. Watanuki's inner bull scraped its hoof on the ground, readying to run with all its might and catch the red cloth, its tail swishing in anticipation.

"I don't know…" The girl replied, preoccupied with the scarf as her eyes followed it. Her bull was salivating, itching for a run, for a fight. Wari turned away and started walking ahead. The girl shoved herself off of the wall, breathing heavily as she tried to control herself…but it was too much. She had to get that red scarf. The bull scraped its hoof against the ground one more time, readying to dash. Watanuki's foot scraped along the ground as well. Suddenly, the weight on her back was gone and the bull dashed ahead, charging towards the red scarf. Watanuki was right behind it, running full tilt towards Wari, ready to crash into him and win her victory. But suddenly, the boy ran off, calling to a classmate ahead of him.

"Kazumi!"

"Hey, how's it going?" The girl asked, greeting her friend. Watanuki skidded to a halt in shock, the desire to run suddenly evaporating. She had no clue what she had been doing but it was damn strange.

"Good morning!" Wari replied. "How's your cold? Are you feeling any better? You really had me worried."

"Yeah, I'm okay." Kazumi answered. Watanuki's legs were shaking, barely holding her up where she stood as they talked. She was panting, her breath coming out in gasps as she got a hold of herself again. The weight was back, pushing her down, making every movement a struggle.

The day continued on like that and even Doumeki left the girl alone in her state, no snarky comments or demands for more food. It was kind of nice…too bad Watanuki was feeling too horrible to appreciate the reprieve. And after school she had to go back to her job again, shopping for Yuko as fast as she was able (which wasn't very fast at all) and lugging herself back to the shop. By the time she got there, the crescent moon had risen above the buildings of Tokyo and the girl slumped to the floor of the receiving room, accidently tossing her groceries and school bag on the ground as well as her body.

"I'm finally here." The girl sighed, tired of moving, tired of the pain in the body and tired of being so tired. "Sorry I'm late." She apologized.

"Yeah, I'll say you're late." Yuko was lounging on her couch in a simple salmon kimono with an orange obi, disgruntled and annoyed that Watanuki was so late. "We're practically starving here!" The witch sat up and reached for something at her feet. It was Mokona. "Look how skinny poor Mokona's gotten!"

"Watanuki! Save me!" The fur ball pleaded, his usually round form as flat as a piece of paper.

"Hey, how about a little sympathy here guys. I'm not doing so hot either." The girl groaned.

"What's that?" Yuko asked, completely oblivious to the girl's struggle. Either that or she just ignored it over the prospect of food.

"It took me an hour to walk here from school and my feet felt like lead." Watanuki crawled across the floor and pulled herself up onto Yuko's couch. The witch made room for her but she seemed really disinterested in anything the raven had to say. "I don't know what's up but my body has weighed a ton since this morning."

"You did spend all of yesterday lying around and being lazy, didn't you?" Yuko asked, resting her chin on her hand, smiling amusedly. Watanuki glared at the woman.

"I don't need to hear any lectures about lying around from you!" Watanuki grumbled, hauling herself to her feet. _You're lazier than me, you know. _"I'll go get dinner stared right away." She stumbled into the kitchen with the groceries and started preparing dinner. Forty minutes later, it was done and Yuko and Mokona ate with gusto. The witch downed her fifth glass of red wine and sighed in contentment.

"Now that's much better!" She cooed, eating one last bite before a smocked Watanuki took the plates away for cleaning. Maru and Moro were sleeping peacefully on the couch, both of them sitting up and leaning on each other cutely. Mokona sucked in the last of the scraps from the plates as Watanki stacked them up. "'A snake will come if you whistle at night.'"

"Huh?" Watanuki asked, looking at the witch. Yuko swirled her wine around in her glass and kept talking.

"'Hide your thumbs when you pass by a graveyard,' or "if you go to sleep right after you eat, you'll turn into a cow,' or 'if you clip your nails at night you won't be present when you're parents die.'" Watanuki knew what she was talking about now…she was still stuck on superstitions. Mokona hiccupped in the pause, pausing in its chugging of its wine. "You think these things have no basis in reality, right?"

"Well, no." Watanuki replied. "They're…moral lessons. They're meant to be taken symbolically not literally, I think. For instance, the thing about clipping your nails at night was because in old times they didn't have electricity and probably figured that it was dangerous and you'd probably get hurt."

"Okay…" Yuko started, ready to tear Watanuki's argument apart. "But what does that have to do about missing your parent's death?"

"Oh. That's because…um…" Watanuki thought for a moment, placing her hand on her chin to do so. "Well…I don't know." Yuko chuckled once and stood up, pushing her chair back.

"If there's no truth to the adage, if it's just a silly superstition like you say, then why has it been passed down for so many generations?"

"Hm. Well, I guess that's because there's something…" Something…what? Watanuki just didn't know what she was trying to get at…that there was some truth after all?

"Something what?" Yuko asked, prompting the girl to get at what she was trying to get at.

"Like something too it." The raven finished.

"Like…maybe a grain of truth worth passing on?" Yuko added slyly.

"A grain of truth? Really? Like what?" Watanuki asked, Yuko walked past the girl, still smiling.

"I think that you should spend the night, Watanuki." The girl turned around to follow Yuko as she walked away.

"Why? Is something going to happen to me?" The seer got a little nervous, her voice showing it. Mokona giggled to itself. She hadn't gotten an answer yet. "Yuko! Am I in danger? What are you not telling me?!"

"Well the truth is…I want pancakes for breakfast!" Yuko blushed at the thought of Watanuki's fluffy pancakes and she was almost drooling in anticipation.

"That's what this is all about?!" The girl snapped, a cross vein throbbing on her head.

"Yay! A sleepover!" Mokona jumped into the air and cheered.

"Dinner was late tonight so I think you should make it up by cooking breakfast tomorrow!~" Yuko pointed out.

"Noooooooo!" Watanuki screamed. In the end, she did end up sleeping over. Yuko had the girl stay in the spare room she always did when she slept over and let the girl lay out her futon and change into the extra set of pajamas that she had stashed in the dresser without any interruptions. And then the witch headed off to bed herself. Watanuki folded up her school uniform for tomorrow and grumbled about Yuko as she did.

"Oh man, that Yuko is the most self-centered person in the world!" Watanuki sighed, stretching her arms above her head until her back popped. The girl rolled over and flopped on her borrowed futon, still feeling heavy, placing her hands behind her butt so she could lean back on them. She sighed moodily. "No matter how you cut it, this has not been my day." The girl stared idly down at her feet and blinked slowly as she spaced out. That's when she noticed that her toenails were peeking over the ends of her toes. They were really long for her.

"My nails are getting long." She said out loud to no one in particular. The girl sat herself up straight and folded her legs in Indian style, grabbing one foot and pulling it closer as she leaned down to check her nails. "And I have to play soccer tomorrow for gym." And nothing hurt more that kicking a high speed ball with long nails in her shoes, she could give herself blisters if she rubbed her feet wrong. "Damn it! Where can I find a nail clipper?" The girl looked around the room, not getting her hopes up of finding nail clippers in the mess that was Yuko's house (even though her cleaning kept it in pretty good order, things tended to move around on their own despite her best efforts). And then, she spotted them. The nail clippers were on a small desk at the end of the room, lying on a cloth to catch nails as they were clipped. Watanuki stared at the clippers for a moment, highly suspicious. Nothing was ever this easy for her, especially in Yuko's shop. It was a little creepy. "It's like they're screaming to be used…" But whatever. The girl needed to clip her nails, so she would. Watanuki crawled over to the desk and picked up the clippers, taking them back to her bed. Yuko's words shot through her head, echoing the superstition about clipping your nails at night.

"'If you clip your nails at night, you won't be present at your parent's death…'" She whispered, starting to half believe that this one might be true, but not really because there was one huge flaw with that proverb when it pertained to Watanuki. "But I don't have any parents so…here goes."

The girl placed her feet on the little white cloth that came with the clippers and propped her left knee up and bent down to clip her toenails. _Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! _Watanuki worked on her nails, her back turned to most of the room and she was none the wiser to what was happening behind her. With each snap of the clippers, a darkness was creeping in from the corners, bit by bit, synchronized with the sound of the clippers. _Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! _The wall of black slowly over took the room, creating a void behind the seer as she worked on her toes. The sound changed as well. First it was just the snap of the clippers but now…now there was another sound coming from the void, a noise that sounded like scissors scraping shut or a sword hacking down. _Click! Swish! Click! Swish! _Watanuki sort of heard the second sound and looked up, glancing behind her. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary to her, so she shrugged and went back to clipping. _Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! _She started up again and finished her left foot. Watanuki switched knees and starting working on her right foot. _Click! Click! Swish! Click! Clang! Click! Clang! _The darkness was back, reaching for the raven where she sat. Watanuki sort of heard it that time, the noise that followed every snap of the clippers. She paused for a moment, the tool poised above her big toe. She clipped off part of the nail cautiously. _Click! Clang! _Oh, it was gone again, so she shrugged and kept cutting. _Click! Clang! Click! Clang! Click! Clang! Click! Clang! Click! Clang! Click! Clang! Click Clang! _Now the darkness was covering the entire room, an sinister pair of blades creeping out of the black to snap shut above the girl's head like a giant pair of scissor blades. Watanuki heard the noise again and her back shot straight. The blades clinked open behind her, their curved metal ready to scythe towards the girl's neck, gleaming maliciously. Watanuki turned around, finally noticing the darkness around her, see the blades aimed for her head. She got ready to scream, but it got caught in her throat. The blades snapped shut. Watanuki dove to the floor, barely missing death by an inch.

"My body still feels so heavy!" The girl groaned, trying to crawl away from her certain doom. The weight on her seemed to increase, pushing the seer down into the ground. She couldn't move! She was going to get cut by those giant blades! "I-I can't move my legs!" The blades moved behind her, clanging as they angled themselves down towards Watanuki. The girl glanced back and screamed, watching at the blade crept nearer and nearer. She was going to die!

Suddenly, a kimono rode floated down from the air, its yellow cloth fluttering like the purple butterflies embroidered on its surface. Watanuki felt it drape itself over her and she looked back in shock to see where it had come from.

"Stay down!" Yuko commanded, standing in front of the floating blades, her hair blending into the blackness. Watanuki screamed again as the blades snapped down on Yuko. They got her! But they hadn't. Yuko was still standing, a red flower in her hands, the blades mere inches away from her throat. The blades had cut the blossom of the flower and it drifted down softly, severed from its stem. The blossom hit the ground, its petals breaking apart limply. The blades retreated into the void, taking the darkness with it and returning the room to its original state. Yuko turned and looked down at the trembling girl behind her. Watanuki was kneeling on the floor, Yuko's robe draped around her like a blanket, the girl hiding underneath it like a scared child. She was in fact, a scared child. The girl's head peeked out of the yellow robe, watching Yuko with wide eyes. "It's okay now." The witch stated for Watanuki's benefit. The girl's face was pale, the shock at almost dying in the one place that was supposed to keep her safe unsettling her mind.

"It is?" The raven asked, huddling under the robe still. "Did that thing come because I was cutting my nails?" Yuko was a little proud that she had pieced it all together, despite having told the witch that she didn't believe in superstitions.

"Uh huh." Yuko nodded knowingly.

"I get it…" Watanuki finished piecing together the encounter as she thought. "So…you're not supposed to cut your nails at night because…"

"That thing will attack you." Yuko finished dramatically. "And if lobbed off your head it's safe to assume that you wouldn't be present at your parent's death." Watanuki glanced down at the flower, watching it release smoke from where the blades had cut it. It had warded off the spirit.

"What was that thing? A ghost?" Watanuki asked, her hand coming up to touch her throat gently. She'd almost lost her head!

"I'm not quite sure actually." Yuko looked at the severed stem in her hands. "I do know that it's been around for ages. A spirit that has haunted mankind for generations."

Watanuki reached down and picked up the clippers that had been the catalyst for the whole situation, staring at their silver surface as the rest of her strange encounters of the past couple days flew threw her head. There was the one where she tripped over her shoes laces, because she put on new shoes at night…the one where she'd laid down after she'd eaten and felt heavy for the rest of the day, even going as far as to bull charge Wari on the way to school…and now this.

"Sometimes," Yuko started. "Humans are forced to encounter the unseen world, and then those people will try to explain it, what happened – to describe the incident, their awesome mystery that they've encountered." Watanuki stared up at Yuko as her cranberry eyes watched the girl. "They soon find that there are few who believe them…so they transform their story into a kind of warning. They reduce it to its basic idea, making it a kind of riddle of sorts. These riddles are then passed down, turning into the superstitions that we have today." Watanuki was still shaking, spooked by her own supernatural encounter even though she had several of those every week. It was discomforting to know that her disbelief of superstitions had almost killed her, her arrogance and dismissial of those small warnings blocking her own supernatural sight. If something like that happened again, she really could die.

"Should we cast a spell to end the retribution of superstitions on you?" Yuko asked, clearly sensing the girl's unease. Watanuki looked at her, confused as to how Yuko could do that. Weren't the superstitions universal? If so, how does one person escape their effects? It didn't matter. Right now, Yuko was offering to free her from superstition and she'd take it if it meant her life wouldn't be in danger from their punishments. And that's how they ended up outside in the moonlight, Watanuki sitting on a small mat and the witch stood in front of her with Maru and Moro at her sides, her hands pressed together as if in prayer. Watanuki had crossed her legs in the lotus pose (really surprised that her hips and knees were that flexible to do it in the first place) her forearms resting on her thighs, her thumbs and fingers pressed together in a meditation pose.

"This spell had been handed down for generations." Yuko intoned, reaching one of her hands down towards the girl. "Humans are not alone in this world. Never underestimate the unseen powers." Watanuki nodded. Even though she could see spirits, that didn't mean that she understood them fully. She'd have to be more careful in the future if she wanted to live. Yuko placed her hand on Watanuki's head and started chanting, her hand circling Watanuki's head. "Fear…fear…go away…come again some other day…" And when Watanuki realized she was singing the "Rain, Rain, Go Away" song, she knew that Yuko was pulling her leg. The girl opened her eyes and looked up as Yuko swung her arms to the side, her leg popping up as she pivoted. "Get out!~"

"Get out!~" Maru and Moro chanted, mimicking their mistress.

"What'd you think?" Yuko giggled, placing her hands on her hips and leaning over the girl, a coy smile on her face. "I had you going for a while, didn't I?" Watanuki was shaking in anger, having been made a fool out of again. It was just Yuko messing with her!

"Oh, you ruined the whole thing!" She snapped, slapping her hands down on her knees. And now she really felt like an idiot, playing along with Yuko and hoping that she really could be free of superstitions.

"I thought you said before that you didn't believe in stuff like this?" Yuko questioned, undermining Watanuki's anger. The witch and the seer looked at each other for a moment as Watanuki realized something.

_But I did…a long time ago. _The girl fell back into her memories, all the way to elementary school when she was young. _Once I heard and old superstition from a friend of mine. _Watanuki remembered gathering around the boy's desk during school, joining a bunch of other kids as her friend told them about the superstition of hiding your thumbs as you pass graveyards. It scared the girl, and with her experiences with spirits, it scared her even more than the other kids. She knew weird stuff could happen and it would if she wasn't careful._After that, every time I passed a graveyard or even when a hearse drove by me, I hid my thumbs, otherwise, my parents would die young. _Watanuki had run past graveyards, scared of the spirits that could lurk in them and she turned her back and trembled whenever a hearse passed her. It was an uncontrollable fear that she couldn't contain, she was so scared of losing her parents. _I always made sure to hide my thumbs. Always. I never cut my nails at night either. But it didn't matter. My parents died anyways. In spite of what I did. And that's when it happened…that's when I stopped believing in superstitions. _

"I supposed it's possible to live your whole life with your eyes closed, to avoid ever encountering the unseen world you find in the old stories." Yuko mused, staring up at the moon with Watanuki. "To hide." She looked down at the girl, catching her eyes. "But to live blindly, to cast out the vastness of existence, that would be a waste." Yuko patted the seer on her head again. "You should go get some sleep now."

Watanuki looked up at Yuko, feeling the warm hand on her head. Nobody had patted her on the head like that in years, since her parents died. It was a nice feeling, having been protected by someone that she considered half a guardian now (half because Watanuki babied Yuko like she was the child most of the time) and something warm blossomed in the girl's chest. She nodded at the witch and they all went to bed peacefully.

The next morning, Watanuki was up bright and early in her smock, whipping up the pancakes that Yuko had requested the previous night. She felt a lot better, her body back to normal, her scare from last night just a bad dream now. _It's weird, my body feels lighter since last night. Did that joke ceremony work? _The girl poured some batter into her pan, making Yuko her first of many plates, glancing back at the witch at the table.

"Maple syrup, honey, strawberry jelly, and marmalade." The girl announced as she set Yuko's first plate and the condiments out on the table with her tea. "Just help yourself to whatever you like and enjoy!"

"Oh, Watanuki! These pancakes look absolutely scrumptious!" Yuko clapped her hands together in delight. Mokona nodded in approval. The kitchen doors slid open to reveal Maru and Moro dancing behind the woman.

"Pan pan pancakes!~ Pan pan pancakes!" They sang and then the door shut again, the performance over.

"Nobody makes pancakes like Watanuki!" Mokona cheered.

"Come on, guys, it's no big deal." The girl blushed at the praise. "There's nothing to get excited about." The girl poured water though a strainer with hers and Yuko's tea, mixing up the hot drinks. When she set the pot asides and took out the strainer, Watanuki found an upright tea leaf in her cup. "An upright tea leaf!" The girl picked up her up to look at the leaf, smiling as steam rose from her cup. That meant that something good was going to happen.

"So tell me…" Yuko smiled at the girl as she set down her own cup of tea. "Do you think that you will believe in that kind of stuff from now on?"

"Weeeelllllll…." The seer started. "I think it will be case by case for me." She compromised.

"By the way.." Yuko started again, picking up her tea cup again, a knowing smile on her lips.

"Yeah?"

"Will you run down to the storehouse and pick me up a bottle of Napoleon brandy?"

"This early in the morning?" The girl grumbled. But, since she was in a good mood, she went to fetch the bottle. In the store house, Watanuki searched for the bottle of brandy that Yuko wanted, her gaze glancing over the shelves. "What a pain…it's a little early for brandy, even for her! Ah, this is it!" Watanuki grabbed the box with the correct bottle in it. "Unless she wanted something else…" The girl glanced at the shelf again, double checking that it was the right bottle. Her eyes caught onto something brightly colored wedged in between two books and she reached up to grab it. As she pulled it out, the girl's eyes widened in delight. It was the last volume of the Macaroni Horenso manga! "Wow! It's the last volume! Ah! It worked!" The girl's upright tea leave had foretold something good happening. Watanuki smiled and headed for the storeroom door. "I guess I don't mind believing in tea leaves and superstitions, as long as they're the good ones."

The afternoon found Watanuki in her apartment again, giggling over the last manga volume as she sat at her desk. When she was finished, the girl snapped the book shut and stretched the soreness out of her shoulders. "Well, that's the end of that! I wonder if he'll do a squeal. I guess I'd better start making dinner." Watanuki scooted out her chair and stood up. As the turned she spotted the same unwanted guest from the other day sitting on her floor reading manga. "Nooooooooo!" It was Doumeki in his teasingly good looking casual clothes! And he'd brought food again, the box of meat and bag of groceries at his side.

"Tadiama. I'm home." He said, holding up Macoroni 2. "The squeal's really quite good."

"This is not your home!" Watanuki said, pissed at the traditional greeting. "And what are you doing here again?! Do I need to get a restraining order!?" Watanuki stalked up to the archer and snagged the manga out of his hands. "Give me that!" _I'm going to have to move my key so he can't get in, _she thought to herself.

"I wasn't finished." The brunette stated.

"I don't care if you're not finished, I want to see it!" Watanuki opened the first page of the comic and started reading, a smile breaking out on her face as she began laughing again. He really was a genius! Doumeki watched the girl and decided that as much as he liked to piss Watanuki off, seeing her smile and laugh was the best thing in the world. But he was hungry, so comics would have to wait. The boy reached up and snatched the book out of the girl's hands and set it aside, replacing the manga with the pork he'd brought over.

"Food, Watanuki." He demanded in his monotone.

"Why do I have to cook it?! Can't you do it yourself!?" She complained, very loudly.

"I like your cooking." Doumeki replied, complimenting the girl casually. Watanuki stopped shouting and glared at the boy, a blush rising on her cheeks. She really was a sucker for flattery, even when it came to Doumeki. Doumeki decided that he liked making her blush too…but he may have decided that a long time ago as well. He couldn't remember.

"Fine! I'll cook! But you'd better not mess up anything in here while I'm gone!" Watanuki grabbed the bag of groceries and stomped into the kitchen. She whipped out her apron and put it on, tightening her pony tail's ribbon and got to work.

"You really are a good housewife, Watanuki." Doumeki called to her. She growled and something zipped into the room and embedded itself into the same spot on the wall that Watanuki had gotten a few days ago. It was a knife. Doumeki had barely escaped with his life for the second time that week.

"Shut up about that, bastard!" Watanuki snarled and went back to cooking, surprisingly pleased with her aim. "We're having nikuman!"

"I like hot buns. Good choice. With sushi." Doumeki requested.

"I don't have stuff for sushi!" Watanuki turned to glare at the boy again. He pointed to the grocery bag. She gave him a skeptical look and peeked in the bag. Sure enough, he'd brought sushi stuff.

"Oh wow. Stuff for sushi." Watanuki stared into the bag for a moment before baring her fangs at Doumeki. "Did you look through my fridge or something the last time you were here?!"

"Maybe."

"Gah!" Watanuki went back to cooking, knowing she's lose if they kept arguing. Better to back out beforehand than to lose. Dinner was just as pleasant as it was last time…that is to say Doumeki wanted things done his way and Watanuki got mad at him and they ended up with some very interesting sushi combinations because of their reluctant, fought over compromises. By the end of the night, Watanuki just consoled herself that she would only get her way half the time with Doumeki and left it at that. She ended up kicking the archer out after three "seconds" and saw him off at her doorway.

Doumeki put on his shoes and grabbed what was left of his groceries and shoved them in the bag. He was standing in Watanuki's _genkan_ when he turned around and gently took the seer's hand in his own. Watanuki jumped, startled by his action but she got and even bigger shock when he leaned down and kissed her cheek, his warm lips pressing into her skin. She stood frozen, unable to think about anything else other than his lips on her cheek, the smell of his lemon body wash wafting past her nose. Doumeki enjoyed his little kiss for a moment longer before pulling back to a nearly brain dead Watanuki. He squeezed her hand, yanking the girl out of her head. When she realized that he wasn't kissing her anymore, Watanuki's glare returned in full force.

"What was that for?!"

"That's for dinner." Doumeki said, thanking the girl for the meal.

"You didn't have to kiss me! A normal "thank you' would've been enough!" Watanuki was blushing like crazy, torn between liking the thank you but disturbed that Doumeki had gotten the drop of her again and kissed her.

"I'll be back." He stated, looking deeply into her eyes.

"No you will not!" Watanuki retorted, pushing him out her door. But as she already knew, Watanuki would only get her way half of the time when it came to Doumeki. The other half of the time...he'd have his way. And that's the way they functioned together.

To be continued…

A/N: And there you go! Hope you enjoyed it and see you next time! :3

Note 1: In Japan, convenience stores and supermarkets stock a huge variety and flavors of chips like shrimp flavored, or black pepper and garlic. Some of them get really strange but they're advertized in the stores as "limited edition" flavors because they won't always be in stock. That's why a lot of the time, you won't find a flavor of chips after it's gone out of stock.


	13. The Promise and The Choice

A/N: ZareEraz here! I know this has been a long time coming so I hope it was worth the wait! These two episodes are some of my favorite and I hope I did them justice. Enjoy and don't forget to review and let me know if you liked it! Happy reading!

Chapter Twelve: The Promise and The Choice

Spring had finally come to Japan, the cherry blossoms blooming vibrantly in the chilly air that had yet to warm. Chilly air that Watanuki was currently standing out in and doing the laundry in, as well. It was freezing but the girl had a job to do and she had to do it fast or else she'd be in trouble. Watanuki smacked someone Yuko's pillows together, shaking out all of the pent up dust in it so that it'd be nice and fresh for the next time she used them. Once that was done, she hurried over to the porch and set them down, brushing off her smock and undoing her head handkerchief for a short break.

"Alright, what's left?" The girl asked herself, starting to count out her list of chores on her fingers. "Starch the sheets, sweep and mop the entire house, oh! And arrange fresh flowers (which was something she'd become quite good at while working for Yuko). "Magnolia or witch-hazel?" She asked herself. "God! I've got to hurry!" The seer looked around frantically, trying to remember if she needed to do anything else. "I'm dead if the house isn't spotless by the time Yuko gets back!"

The raven ducked down and grabbed her laundry basket and whirled around, dashing up the steps, tripping and falling spectacularly on her face. "Ow…owowowow…" The girl groaned, her elbows, knees and face aching from her mishap. Then she heard something behind her that was out of place for the quiet shop. It was a woman's laugh. Watanuki fixed her crazily skewed glasses, stood up and turned around to greet the guest, seeing a woman that could've been the age of her own mother, or perhaps a little older, dressed in a fine pink kimono with a teal colored traditional coat wrapped around her. Her graying brown hair was pulled into a large bun on the nape of her neck and held in place by a single chopstick.

"Um…" The girl started. "Can I help you?" She quickly walked up to the woman and smiled politely. "Sorry, Yuko's not in right now but I can take a message."

"Yuko?" The woman asked, her eyes laughing. "Who's that?"

"That's odd that you didn't stop by to talk to Yuko." Watanuki replied, but in all honesty, stranger things had happened.

"Well, I just happened to see you as I was passing by." Her hand came up gracefully and hovered near her lipsticked and smiling mouth, just like how princesses used to do in old paintings. She was a real lady! "You looked like you were having so much fun. I couldn't help but say hello. Sorry for bothering you."

"No, it's okay." Watanuki assured her.

"Oh…" The woman gasped, looking above Watanuki's head, her gaze sweeping across Yuko's shop, admiring the architecture. "You have a lovely house!"

"Actually, ma'am, it's a shop." Watanuki corrected politely.

"Really?" She said, disbelieving, but not entirely casting away the possibility. "What kind of shop is it?"

"Well…" Watanuki tried to think of a good way to explain Yuko's shop without sounding psychotic and crazy. "I guess you could say we sell a little bit of everything in there. The woman dropped her gaze back down to the girl.

"And are you the owner's daughter?" The mere thought sent shivers up the girl's spine, just thinking about being Yuk's daughter. It was horrifying. "Helping out around the house?"

"It's my after-school job." She replied matter-of-factly.

"Such a nice girl, helping out your mother like this." The woman smiled again, or just smiled bigger since she'd never stopped smiling.

"No-she's not my-" Watanuki started, but she was interrupted by the phone ringing inside the shop. Both she and the woman looked towards the door.

"Well, you should probably go and get that." The woman sighed, a smile still on her face.

"Oh yeah." Watanuki replied, bowing to the woman. "Goodbye!" She ran towards the house and the insistent ringing of the phone, but the girl did look back once, to see the woman smiling at her and waving goodbye. Watanuki smiled, wondering if that was what a mother was like. She didn't know herself because her mother had died when she was very young. But it was a nice thought to think of the woman in that capacity. But right then, the girl had to throw those thoughts away and kick off her shoes haphazardly as she dashed into the house for the phone.

"Telephone!~ Telephone!~" Maru and Moro sang, kicking their legs up in the air. "Pick it up you lazy bones!~" They laughed and cartwheeled away from the table with the phone on it in opposite directions.

"Yeah, I know!" Watanuki threw open the doors and ran for the phone, wondering why Maru or Moro didn't just pick it up. "I know I'm coming! Hello?"

"Well, it took you long enough." Yuko's voice came in on the other end, muffled and broken up by static. "Things are taking longer than expected here, so I won't be home today." The static continued with every word.

"That's too bad." Watanuki shrugged. "I just bought some of that asahori bamboo that you like."

"You did!?" Yuko's voice got incredibly loud as she got excited and Watanuki had to do a Doumeki and hold the phone away from her ear as the witch shouted. "Why didn't you say so sooner!?"

"Mokona wants some bamboo too!" The fur ball's voice butted into the conversation, just as loudly as its mistress'. Watanuki sat down in one of the two chairs next to the table and placed the phone back to her ear once they were done.

"Fine, I'll just save it 'til tomorrow then." The girl sighed. "Even though you're supposed to eat it right away." A loud bust of static came in through the phone, like Yuko was calling from really, really far away and it was hurting Watanuki's ears.

"You'd better have it because it looks like I won't be home tomorrow either." Yuko said through the static. "Actually, I might be gone for quite a while."

"Really? For how long." The seer asked. Apparently there wasn't any need to get so frantic about the chores today. What a waste.

"I don't know. Consider yourself off until I get back." Yuko replied.

"Okay then." Watanuki looked out the doors and into the yard, thinking about all the things she could do while Yuko was away and how nice it would be just to take care of herself…and Doumeki's lunches, she guessed.

"I know! You can make the asahori bamboo for Doumeki! Wouldn't that be cute!?~" The witched teased.

"No! don't say another word or I'm hanging up on you!" Watanuki blushed, thinking about how since that first night when Doumeki brought over Matsuzaka he'd been coming over once a week to have dinner with her, for no reason at all apparently other than to eat and make her life miserable…in a good sort of way.

"Fine, fine! I'll bring you back some souvenirs."

"Sure, thanks. I'll see you when you get back. Take care."

"_You_ take care." Yuko hung up suddenly, her strange and pointed words hanging in the air along with the busy signal from the phone.

"That was weird. Well, weird for Yuko." Watanuki said as she hung up the phone. She thought about it for a minute and then decided that she didn't care, forgetting all the chores she was supposed to do for another day and heading home. She did actually make the bamboo and shared it with Doumeki no less when he popped up at the house that night, as if his food radar had led him there by magic.

The next day, Watanuki was in quite a good mood while she walked with Wari, blushing as he conversed with her crush.

"Oh, I see! You like every kind of sweet except marshmallows!" The girl exclaimed.

"They're okay, I guess, but their texture is really weird." The boy said, shaking his head slightly so his curly hair bounced.

"Right, right! I agree!" Watanuki instantly replied. "They're gooey and fluffy too!"

"Mmm hmm!" Wari agreed. "Marshmallows are so strange!"

"Yeah, I couldn't agree more!" Watanuki stood up tall and took on a know-it-all voice. "But did you know that marshmallows are made from the roots of the marshmallow plant, hence the name?" Watanuki pushed her glasses up her nose like and evil genius, showing off her faked intelligence.

"Wow, really?" Wari smiled brightly. "Is there anything you don't know, Watanuki?" Watanuki could've died from the boy's cuteness and blushed even pinker.

"No one's as awesome as that smile on your face!" She gushed, and started doing a little dance.

"Oi." Someone said, but the girl was too busy talking.

"Now that I know that you don't care for marshmallows I know what candy to buy you for a special surprise!~ I'm going to get the perfect sweets for my sweet Wari!~"

"I said, 'oi.'" A monotone voice interrupted Watanuki's dance as she moved out into the hallways. And it was a voice she found irritating. Watanuki whirled on Doumeki and growl, baring her fangs furiously.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" She snapped.

"Are you leaving?" He asked, unfazed by her normal sour mood.

"Yeah, so!?" The raven crossed her arms angrily.

"Doumeki, are you going to archery practice today?" Wari asked, sticking his head out of the classroom and noticing the brunette in his black hamaka and white kimono top.

"Yeah." He nodded.

"You've been practicing so hard lately!"

"The competition's coming up." As they spoke to each other, Watanuki pouted and then growled and then a cross vein appeared on her forehead as Doumeki _once again_ butted into her conversation with Wari!

"Can I cheer you on again?"

"Sure." And that's what made the girl snap. _WHY DO YOU WANT TO CHEER HIM ON?! _Tears of frustration sprang to her eyes as he pulled a funny face that drew Doumeki's attention to her.

"Working today?" Doumeki asked the seer.

"Why do you want to know?!" She stalked up to him and got right in his face.

"Will Yuko be there?" The archer asked next.

"No! She's gone!"

"Gone where?"

"Geez! You're nosey!" Watanuki turned away from her classmate with a huff and crossed her arms sourly. "If you really have to know, she's out on business!" Doumeki stared at the girl intently, trying to riddle out this ominous feeling that had just made itself known in his stomach. It was as if something bad was going to happen, and he could feel it. And when something bad happened, Watanuki was usually in the middle of it. But she'd caught him staring at that point, disturbed by the look on his face. "What's with you!? What's your problem today?!"

"The pipe fox…where is it?" Doumeki's eyes narrowed slightly. Watanuki blinked at him in shock and confusion, wondering about the sudden change in conversation.

"Come on! Do I look like his keeper?! He's back at Yuko's shop!"

"Carry him with you." Was all Doumeki said, wanting her to have at least the protection of the spirit, even if he couldn't be with her for whatever was going to happen. He just hoped he was wrong and that nothing _would_ happen.

"Hey, why? What are you talking about?" Watanuki asked in rapid fire. But Doumeki had already turned around the started walking away, heading towards archer practice that would keep him busy all night. "What the hell is his problem today?" The girl huffed, putting her hands on her hips.

"You two get along so well! Almost like a couple! Isn't Doumeki great?" Wari said cheerfully as he laughed. Watanuki fell over in mortification, dying where she lay in the hallway as she was compared to being Doumeki's girlfriend again.

"I don't get it! Why is Doumeki so popular?!" Watanuki grumbled to herself on the way home, another cross vein popping out of her forehead. "People see him and smile and when I see him all I want to do is wring his stupid neck!" A quite laughter stopped Watanuki ran mid-curse and she turned to see who it was. "Oh! The lady from yesterday!" Today she was wearing a burgundy kimono with a yellow obi and pair with a brown haori and a purple shawl on top of that.

"I apologize for laughing but you were making such silly faces just now, I couldn't help but giggle." The woman chuckled again. Watanuki blushed a little, liking the fact that this woman wasn't afraid to approach her, even when she was spouting off about Doumeki. Most people avoided her when her face looked so murderous.

"Well, I didn't mean to make them but if they made you smile...all the better!" Watanuki reached her hand behind her head and scratched at her hair shyly. The woman smiled at her again, her deep brown eyes warm, and just a little bit sad.

"Mind if I walk with you?" She asked.

"Not at all!" Watanuki smiled wider and walked back a little to join the woman by her side before they ambled along.

"Walking home from school?" The woman asked, taking note of the girl's uniform.

"Yeah." Watanuki replied.

"Don't you have any after school clubs to do to?"

"Just the going-home club!" The seer chuckled a little.

"Well then…what about your part-time job?" The woman asked.

"I'm off until my boss get's back." _And what a relief that is! _The girl grinned again.

"If you don't have anywhere to be…would you like to spend some time together?" The woman asked. Watanuki blinked in surprise.

"But…I don't even know your name! And why would you want to spend time with someone like me?!" Watanuki flailed a little bit, getting a giggled out of the woman again as she started acting funny.

"Those are easy questions." The woman replied. "I'm Mayuko, and I want to spend some time with you because you're such a sweet girl, I can tell." Watanuki blushed at the compliment.

"I-I'm Watanuki." She stuttered, acting all embarrassed.

"It's nice to meet you." Mayuko smiled at the girl.

They ended up in a forested park, sitting in a small clearing of trees on two little animal seats that kids would rock back and forth on as if they were riding the animals. It was a strange place for two adults to hang out, but ever since Watanuki had started working for Yuko, she'd spent an abnormal amount of time in parks like this, to satisfy the witch's desire for childish enjoyment.

"Are you sure this place is okay?" The seer asked, after they'd both sat down. The girl was on the blue fox and Mayuko took a seat on the yellow one, rearranging her kimono and shawls gracefully as she did. Watanuki shivered a little in the brisk, spring breeze that hadn't quite let go of winter yet."It's a little chilly."

"No, it's perfect." Mayuko said, looking around. She reached for her can of coffee and started to open it.

"Let me get that for you!" Watanuki reached out her hand and Mayuko handed the can over. The girl popped the tab easily and handed it back. "And here you go!"

"Thank you." Mayuko took the can in both of her hands, like one would hold an Eastern tea cup. Watanuki smiled and picked up her own can and opened it. They were quite for a few minutes, sipping their coffee as the wind blew the loose leaves this was and that, the park quite so early in the afternoon. Watanuki glanced over at her companion and noticed that she was drinking the coffee that the girl had bought for her, she was just staring at it with those sad eyes again. _Is something wrong? She doesn't look very pleased to be spending time with me…did I do something to upset her? She was so happy just a few minutes ago…_

"It's been a dream of mine to have coffee in a park like this for a long time…" Mayuko said softly, interrupting the girl's thoughts. "Do you think that's strange?"

"No, no! I don't really think that's strange at all, ma'am." She said.

"You're lying! I can tell by your face!" Mayuko pointed to Watanuki's face and teased her a little. The girl blushed, knowing that she'd been caught, but Mayuko didn't seem to mind at all. "This is nice," She continued, looking down at her coffee. "You know, I always wanted to do things like this with my daughter." Watanuki's eyes widened as the woman continued to speak, understanding that she'd lost her daughter much like Watanuki had lost her own parents.

"I wish that we could've gone on walks, and maybe visited the park, sat and talked over a cup of coffee. But we never got the chance. She passed away some time ago." Watanuki didn't know what to say, so the wind filled the silence with its quiet blowing. "I miss her so much." Mayuko continued. "She'd be about your age now, I guess. I can only hope that she'd grown into a nice, polite girl like you."

_I'm not that polite, or sweet like she thinks I am. I'm not really that nice either if I really want to be honest. I just make people mad and rant about other people's faults and ignore my own most of the time. I'm not even good at keeping my emotions in check and that usually pisses people off. I'm not the right person to comfort this woman. I'm not the girl who should share her dream with her. _

"And now, my dream has been fulfilled. And it's thanks to you." Mayuko reached out and touched Watanuki's hand. The girl looked up into her face and saw that no matter who she was or who she thought she was, she'd made Mayuko happy…and that's all that really mattered, she guessed. She'd just keep the annoying bits of herself a secret.

"No, no. It was nothing." The girl shook her head.

"If that's the case…I'd love to do this again sometime. If it's okay with you." Mayuko continued, inviting the girl to spend more time with her.

"Uh…yeah, sure! If you want to!" The girl's blush deepened. Mayuko smiled and they sat and talked for a while, over cups of coffee.

When Watanuki got home she left her shoes by the door like normal and set her bag and keys down on the kitchen table like normal, but then she sat down at the table and just stared up at a picture on top of her cabinet and that wasn't normal at all. She didn't even make herself dinner or even a snack. She just sat there and stared at the picture of her and her parents that she kept out of sight, mostly to keep the pain of the loss at bay. It wasn't something that she liked to think about too often, but in that picture, with her mother's hand in her own, her father's on her back…she looked happy. And they were happy too. It was the only picture she had of them but her mother looked so beautiful in her green kimono – a kimono that Watanuki had kept in pristine condition since she'd passed on – and her father looked so handsome in his crisp white shirt and tie. Watanuki still had some of his things too, like the yukata that she'd let Doumeki borrow after the Demon Parade or some of her father's books. But even as she gazed at the picture, the golden sun light of the evening didn't touch her parent's faces, like the world itself refused to let them live, even in a simple picture.

Watanuki's heart clenched, her old grief bubbling up. She felt her chest constrict, as if the mental pain was making itself known physically and she coughed a little, as if she was starting to get a cold.

"That's so sad!" Wari said, after hearing the story about Mayuko and her daughter the next day at school. "I wonder if her daughter passed away when she was little."

"Sounded like it." Watanuki stared down at her half eaten bento lunch. Wari was enjoying his, but she just didn't have much of an appetite today.

"So, are you guys going to see each other again?" Wari asked as the girl packed up her uneaten lunch.

"Yep! We're getting together today after school." The girl smiled cheerfully, excited by the thought of seeing Mayuko again.

"I bet that lady is really looking forward to it!" Wari grinned. "I know I would! You're so much fun to be around!"

"Yeah? You really think so?" Watanuki's face warmed with her blush, enjoying the compliment her crush gave her.

"Yeah! Especially when you do that comedy routine with Doumeki!" Watanuki's arms and legs shout out in mortification as she fell off of her seat and partway down the stairs they were sitting on. But she sprang right back up and waved a hand in front of her face to dispel any misunderstanding that Wari had about them. Sure, they worked together a little bit and he had saved her a couple of times…and she cooked for him…and he came over to her house sometimes…but they weren't friends! No way! Okay…maybe…maybe they were friends…but they didn't get along!

"That thing we do…I wouldn't exactly call it a comedy routine…" _More like him pissing me off and me wanting to choke him to death! _

"Oh, really?" Wari looked confused.

"I thought you were doing the Dumb Guy and the Witty Guy." Wari shrugged.

"We don't but if we were would I be witty or dumb?" Watanuki asked in curious anticipation.

"That's easy!" Wari's smile was back. "You're obviously-" He stopped for a second.

"Yeah?" Watanuki waited.

"But it's too bad Doumeki couldn't join us." Wari had completely derailed his train of thought. Watanuki's arms and legs shot out in mortification again and she fell off of her seat and down the stairs for a second time. "He's been so busy with practice that he's been skipping lunch a lot!" Watanuki sat up and held up and angry fist. _And I even keep making him lunch! _The girl glared at the unopened bento that was supposed to be Douemki's. _That jerk is now spurring my fabulous cooking, that ass! _

"You heard him." Watanuki said, leaping back into her seat. "He said 'practice over food.' And I thought that something like that would never come out of his mouth! It's his loss, dumb jock." _And yet, I keep making him lunch! What is wrong with me!? _

"You even went through the trouble of making lunch for him." Watanuki brightened up at Wari's note of her dedication. "That's just too bad."

"Oh, no. It's no big deal." Watanuki straightened her gray jacked like a professional. _Though it is a big deal when you notice it, Wari my sweet! _"I didn't mind at all! As long as I was making lunch for myself."

"No, I meant him not being here." Wari corrected the girl. Watanuki's smug face dropped into the depths of despair at the thought of Wari actually _wanting_ Doumeki around. It was devastating that she wasn't enough good company and that Wari would have such an attachment to that bastard! Her nightmares were coming true! _Nooooooooo! He likes Doumeki! _

"Doumeki's got the archery club all fired up!" Wari continued. "With him on the team they've got a chance at winning the championship this year!" And Watanuki could just see his smug face in the archery range as he hit a perfect bull's eye again and again! It pissed her off.

Down in the archery range, Doumeki sneezed as he made another shot, the arrow flying perfectly despite the interruption and landing a perfect hit.

"Someone must be talking about me." He mumbled as the other archers ooooed his skill.

"But having him in the club doesn't really effect his chances of winning, does it?" Back on the stairs, Watanuki was trying to play down Doumeki so Wari's and his love wouldn't bloom.

"Sure it does! The other archers say that he's the most skilled one in the club!" Wari was beaming now and Watanuki's face looked like death. "Remember when we cheered him on at the city competition? He was amazing that day!" Wari looked like sunshine itself and Watanuki collapsed to the floor in a gray cloud of depression.

"Um…" The girl started, peeling herself off the floor. "Do you mind if I ask you something Wari?"

"Sure, what?" The boy looked at her and Watanuki's heart started beating really fast.

"I know this is a little forward of me, but…" The girl steeled her courage and just tried to spit it out. "Is Doumeki..someone…you'd…" _like?! _Was the last word but the bell rang before she could get it out.

"Oh, there's the bell!" Wari said standing up. "We don't want to be late to class, do we?" Watanuki was foiled again and fell over, rolling down the stairs until a wall stopped her.

"Really?" Mayuko giggled at the girl's story about lunch and couldn't stop laughing. They were sitting in the park again, but this time they'd chosen a bench by a water fountain, the happy gurgle of the water filling in the quiet moments of their conversations.

"It's not funny! Don't laugh!" Watanuki huffed, but the woman kept laughing at her. She frowned and blew a flower petal off her nose when one fell on her. The wind whipped though the trees, as chilly as ever, kicking up blossoms in its wake.

"Oh, I'm sorry! But it's just so cute!"

"It's not cute! It's more like pathetic, if you ask me." The girl slumped over on the bench, her head almost touching her knees.

"Oh, come on now." Mayuko said softly. "This Wari, you like him, don't you?" Watanuki shot straight up at the comment and her face turned bright red.

"O-of-of course I do!" She stuttered. "As a friend!" The seer added in hastily, still blushing. "Oh, who the hell am I kidding! To me…he's the most wonderful guy every!" Watanuki's face perked up just thinking about the boy.

"I really hope this Wari boy feels the same way about you, Watanuki.' Mayuko said sincerely, her face lighting up at the girl's antics.

"Mmm hmm." The girl replied shyly, wishing that they could spend all their time together. Mayuko was just so sweet and kind to her, just like a real mother.

"Oh, the wind's picking up." The woman noted. "It's getting colder. You should be getting home now." But Watanuki didn't want this visit to end so soon…she wanted to stay just a little longer. "You don't want to worry your family."

"Uh, I won't." Watanuki replied. _I haven't told her that I have no family to go home too…_ "You see…I actually live by myself."

"So do your parents live far away?" The woman asked politely, pulled her rose-embroidered shawl around her a little tighter, almost covering up her blue kimono completely.

"No," The girl shook her head. "I don't have any. They passed away." Had Watanuki been looking Mayuko's direction, she would've seen the woman's face morph into shock, completely taken aback by the girl's admission, before her knit her eyebrows together in grief and understanding.

"I'm so sorry." Her voice was even quieter that it usually was, full of pain. "I shouldn't have asked you about that."

"No! It's okay, really!" Watanuki tried to comfort the woman by hurriedly putting her fears to rest. "It happened a long time ago! Don't worry, I'm fine!" Mayuko's hands came out and held one of Watanuki's, her warm fingers gripping hers tightly.

"No matter how long ago it was, you never forget the loss of a loved one in your life." She said it with such knowing and sorrow in her voice that it made Watanuki stop and think about her loss for a moment, something she hadn't allowed herself to do for a while. "That pain never really goes away. I know, trust me."

Watanuki stared into Mayuko's eyes, finding something in there that she could related to, could know and understand. They shared a grief, and that was okay. The girl closed her hand around the woman's and squeezed them tightly, biting back tears as she tried not to cry. She couldn't cry, that would make Mayuko sad and she hated seeing her sad. So instead she let a few minutes pass in silence, as they took a moment to understand one another. And then, Mayuko let her hands go and they parted soon after, both of them consumed with their thoughts.

Watanuki made her dinner in silence that evening after she got home, the time void of her usual babbling and humming. She worked on the next day's lunches as well, testing some sauce to see if it needed more salt. She started coughing, this bout a little longer than her last one while she'd been walking home, her lung aching for air once she was done.

"Well, that's weird." She said, wheezing a little. "I hope I'm not catching a cold. I'll lost my sense of taste." The girl tried the sauce again and decided that it didn't need anything else. Feeling a little better after her cough, Watanuki filled up the bento boxes with rice and hummed a little tune while she did it. Outside her window, the crisp spring winds blew fitfully.

"Sorry I'm late!" Watanuki called, walking up to the bench where Mayuko was waiting for her the next day. The bench was near a large walkway that over looked a small river and Mayuko looked so peaceful sitting there, lightly brushing her fingers across her brown kimono coat. She glanced over at Watanuki's call, smiling her usual smile. "I've been running a little slow today, have you been waiting long?" The girl asked, carefully holding the lunch she's wrapped up for the woman yesterday. The girl was a bit tired, but she wasn't too tired to miss meeting with her new companion.

"Nope." Mayuko shook her head once, still smiling good naturedly.

"Um…here you go." Watanuki held out the bento box, her hand holding the knot of the orange wrapping cloth. "I made lunch for you. It's kayaku rice." (1) Watanuki blushed, scratching her head nervously. "I just thought that you'd be hungry. Cooking is a hobby of mine…I just hope the rice didn't turn out to salty." _Oh great! Now I'm rambling! _Mayuko reached up and took the box in both of her hands, staring at it without saying a word. A moment passed in silence and Watanuki started getting nervous, thinking that she didn't like kayaku or something like that.

"You don't think this is weird, do you?" Watanuki held up her hands and waved them, a little bit embarrassed at being so forward about her passion for cooking.

"That's not it." Mayuko held the lunch to her chest as if it were something precious. "I'm touched, this is so sweet. Thank you." Watanuki smiled and then ran over to the vending machine just a little down the way, purchasing their customary coffee and then ran back to Mayuko, her skirt flipping up in the wind. But Doumeki wasn't around to see it so she didn't notice that her yellow panties were showing a little bit as she sat down."

"Here you go." The raven handed her friend a can of coffee.

"Thank you." Mayuko took the offered can and popped the tab open. "So, how's your job?"

"Good. It's pretty quiet." Watanuki said, popping her own coffee open. "Um, you see…my boss – the really demanding one – she's out of town. So I have plenty of time to myself.

"Oh. Well, enjoy your time while you have it. I'm much sure you'd rather spend it with your friends that you would with me."

"To tell you the truth, I don't have many friends." _Not including that jerk, Doumeki! _"Besides, talking to you like this makes me really happy." The girl blushed a little, like she always seemed to do around the older woman.

"You know, I was just about to say the same thing." Mayuko looked at the girl and they shared a smile together. Watanuki's heart soared and she felt all light and floaty and she was really, really happy.

"You know what? I'll make lunch again sometime!" She offered. "If there's something you really like, let me know!" Mayuko nodded, accepting the offer. But then her face got really sad, her smile turning into a frown.

"Just…just don't push yourself." She cautioned softly, taking the girl's hand in her own. Watanuki nodded, wanting to please her. But she would still make lunch. They chatted for a while and then both women got up to leave for the day, promising to meet tomorrow. As Watanuki turned to leave she got a giggle.

"What is it?" She asked, still smiling from her visit.

"Well…" Mayuko started. "Watanuki, those are nice panties – I really like the yellow – but…I don't think that you want everyone to see them!" The woman laughed a little louder, covering her up mouth behind a graceful hand. Watanuki blushed a deep red as her hands flew behind her to feel her butt, touching on her flipped up skirt. She yanked it down hurriedly and screwed up her face in embarrassment. Mayuko just laughed at her, loving the way the girl was so full of energy.

They met again and again, sometimes taking walks around the park while Watanuki told funny stories or they sat some place quiet just to talk or to spend a few moments of their day in comfortable silence. They always had coffee and they always smiled together and every once in a while, Mayuko would take the girl's hand, squeezing it gently. Watanuki started to feel like this was what having a mother would be like (well, a mother who wasn't demanding, selfish, odd and always teasing her like Yuko was. It was nice, to have some regularity that didn't involve spirits or chores or mountains and mountains of orders for food. She could just be a simple girl for a little while in the company of Mayuko and each day they met, it was a little harder to leave, even if the weather was chilly enough to keep everyone else out of the park. Watanuki always waved goodbye cheerfully and when she turned around, she didn't see the sad looks that crossed Mayuko's face as she turned to leave as well.

A few days later, Watanuki and Wari's class was outside for gym, the chilly air of spring neglecting to warm up a bit. They were all dressed in their gray and white sweat suits, bundled up against the cold weather as best they could, but Watanuki couldn't seem to get a little warm at all, rubbing her arms fitfully again as she felt the ache down to her bones.

"So, did you hear the bad news?" Wari asked the girl, walking up to her as she shivered. "We have to run laps today."

"Yeah, I heard!" Watanuki tried to sound cheerful, but she fell a little short. She shivered again, the crisp breeze running straight through her as she started to cough. The girl's coughs ached as well, pulling at her lungs and making them hurt; her breathing was painful and sounded wet to her ears. The raven covered up her mouth so she wouldn't get Wari sick, but she kept coughing for a few moments.

"Oh, that doesn't sound good! Are you okay?" Wari asked, his smile slipping off of his face as he watched the girl. She held up a hand to brush her fit off.

"It's just a cold I've had for a few days." She coughed lightly again in the middle of her sentence. "I'm sure it's nothing." The coughs got worse, harder and more violent and when she could breath, the girl was gasping for every breath. Her chest convulsed, bending the girl forward in pain as she tried to catch her breath, only to be thwarted by another coughing fit.

"That doesn't sound like nothing and you're really pale." Wari said, looking at the girl intently. "I really think you should go see the school nurse."

"No, I'm fine. Trust me. It's no big deal." Watanuki suppressed the coughs for a few seconds to get out her clipped sentences, but she was back at it again once she'd finished, the lack of air to her lungs causing black spots to appear in her vision. Everything looked really far away, even Wari who she knew was right next to her. She coughed again and again, each convulsion worse that the last until she finally collapsed, Wari's outstretched hands falling short as he reached to catch the girl. She fell, hitting the ground hard as she blacked out.

"Watanuki! Watanuki! Watanuki!" Wari called the girl's name but she didn't respond. Doumeki heard his yells from across the soccer field and came running as fast as he could. Already, there was a crowd forming around Wari and Watanuki, but he pushed past them and was met with the sight of his classmate collapsed on the ground, unmoving and Wari's hands fluttered above the girl, not touching her as he called her name.

"What's wrong?" Doumeki asked, kneeling down to gently touch Watanuki's face. He could feel her breath on his fingertips, so she was still breathing.

"Watanuki was coughing really bad, she couldn't' breath very well and then she just collapsed!" Wari explained, his voice a little frantic. Doumeki's hand pressed itself against the girl's forehead, looking for a high body temperature, but finding none. _So it's not a fever, but she was coughing…a cold? _

"We should go to the nurse." He said, scooping the unconscious girl up into his arms princess-style. Watanuki's limp body fell into his as he stood, her head rolling to rest on his chest, one of her hands dangling towards the ground, the one closest to him tucked across her torso.

"Right!" Wari agreed. He called to the teacher that Watanuki was sick and they both then took off for the nurse's office. Doumeki would never admit this out loud, but he was really worried about he girl, the bad feeling that he had been carrying in his stomach for a few days starting to roil around as he held the girl. She was unresponsive to his running, her head bouncing uselessly, but at least she'd stopped coughing.

They made it to the nurse's office and Doumeki checked his classmate in, laying her down carefully on the bed and pulling the blanket up so that she could at least get warm Watanuki remained asleep but her breathing was still labored and she'd cough every once in a while. Doumeki softly took off her glasses so the girl didn't roll on them or damage them while she was unconscious and set them down on the table next to her bed before retreating to the wall by the door. Wai was stuck around, so Douemki did too, worried and leaned his butt against the door, folding his arms as they waited for Watanuki to wake up, the gnawing sense that something was wrong sitting in his stomach.

She did wake up, eventually, her blue eyes blinking in confusion she opened them. Everything was blurry, but she could see a ceiling and a light fixture, so she wasn't outside anymore. She blinked a few more times, trying to orient herself as her vision took a few moments to stabilize. The girl heard someone beside her and turned her head to see who it was.

"Are you feeling any better?" It was Wari! Wari was watching by her bedside! But the girl was too worn out to freak out like she usually did.

"What the hell happened to me?" She asked slowly, her voice still raw from her last bout of coughing.

"You passed out cold during P.E." A monotone voice supplied the answer. Watanuki's temper immediately flared and she sat up with a hot glare directed at Doumeki.

"That doesn't explain what you're doing here!" A cross vein popped out on the girl's head, her head that was currently spinning from the rush of blood flowing away from her head when she sat up too fast. Doumeki rolled his eyes. _Such an ungrateful idiot, _he thought.

"Doumeki's the one who carried you here." Wari explained. "He's so nice, huh? It's he the best?" The curly-haired boy smiled and Watanuki's pissed off face snapped into one of mortification.

"What?!" She could barely breath, but for entirely different reasons this time. Wari stood up and jogged towards the door, sliding it open.

"I'm going to tell the nurse that you're up." He said, before sliding the door shut again and disappearing. Now that Watanuki was more awake, she could fully appreciate the depression that came when Wari left her alone with Doumeki. It was so unfair! And after he'd waited by her bedside!

"Thanks…" She mumbled despondently. Doumeki turned to look at the girl, his eyes narrowing, a displeased look on his face. The girl recoiled a little as his intense gaze fell on her, not having seen much emotion from the archer when they weren't in a dangerous situation. It was unsettling.

"Ehg!" She vocalized nonsense at her discomfort. "What?! What do you want?!" She said defensively.

"A cold, huh?" Doumeki asked.

"I guess that's what it is." Watanuki grumped, looking away from his face, his eyes too….something…to keep looking into.

"But…no fever." He continued. The comment made Watanuki realize that the archer had been close enough to feel her skin, which was disturbing…but it was the tiniest bit comforting to know that someone had noticed her condition. Even if it was Doumeki. But, being Watanuki, she blew up.

"And how the hell do you know that?!" She snapped. And then she gasped in realization. _Wari said he'd carried me! _And then the girl was thinking about Doumeki hoisting her unconscious body onto his back and balked in mortification. But the funny thing was that her situation was even worse than she imagined because he didn't piggy back her (which was bad enough) but carried her princess-style in front of the whole class (which was even worse). But even so, the image of the piggy back ride was horrible enough. Watanuki looked away towards the wall, her face the look of horrified death as she addressed no one. _It's going to take years of therapy for me to forget that image! _The girl nearly started crying.

"You're sure it's not related to spirits and stuff?" Doumeki was speaking again, his eyes narrowing further as he thought of all the trouble Watanuki could get into with Yuko gone and him busy. It was nerve wracking actually, when he thought about it. Having a cold was the least of her worries, but it could lead to worse things.

"Nope. Besides, I haven't even seen them lately." Watanuki finally found her glasses on the nightstand and slid them onto her nose, the world finally coming into focus.

"Hmm." Doumeki made his normal noise, but it seemed deeper and more angry than anything else. It was starting to scare Watanuki…while pissing her off at the same time."

"What the hell is your deal today?!" She snapped, slapping her hands on the bed.

"There's an old saying that states 'idiots can't catch colds.'" He said, poking at her intelligence and her condition at the same time.

"HEY! I'm not a-!" At that moment, all of Watanuki's energy disappeared, her cold taking its toll on her body. She slumped over with a groan, almost folding in half as she collapsed to the sheets.

"So what happened to the pipe fox?" Doumeki asked pointedly, walking up to the girl's bed. "I told you to carry it." And the fact that she hadn't done the one thing that could at least protect her a little irked him. He just wanted her to be safe and it looked like she was trying to do the exact opposite.

"Well," The seer started, using most of her energy to lift her head to look at her companion. "I haven't had a chance to stop by Yuko's yet." Free time will do that to you. The things that used to take up your time just disappear until they head butt you again and suddenly, you have no desire to them at all. It was like that while Yuko was gone: Watanuki had no desire to go to the shop.

"Hm." Doumeki gave her a pointed look.

"I promise…I'll stop by soon." Watanuki didn't have the energy to argue with him, so she just gave in, acting a little bit bashful at her lack of resistance.

"Will you really?" Doumeki asked, crossing his arms and not budging an inch on the issue.

"Hmm." Watanuki made a Doumeki noise, glaring at the archer with a little bit of her usual fire. They stared at each other for a moment before Watanuki looked away. "Don't look at me like that you jerk!" She shouted, finally expending all of her energy and flopping back down on the bed. "Sleepy…" She mumbled, and then she was out.

Doumeki sighed and reached down, pulling the blanket back over the girl and placing his hand on her forehead, checking for the fever that wasn't there. Wari walked in a few minutes later with the nurse, but they both found Watanuki asleep again and Doumeki was sitting in the chair next to her bed. The archer and Wari returned to classes after that, but the nurse wanted Watanuki to rest a little more and promised to make sure she got out of the school okay, since Wari had French Club to go to and Doumeki had practice still. Watanuki did wake up before school ended and managed to drag herself down to the girl's locker room and change back into her skirt and blazer, getting out of school ten minutes after the final bell. _I have…to go see…Mayuko. _The girl stumbled out onto the street, the gray sky above her threatening a little rain or even snow, still tired and sick, but she had a promise to keep, so she would keep it.

"Sorry I'm late!" The seer called as she walked into the park. Mayuko was waiting for her at the fountain, sitting on their bench, the cleaned bento box and wrapping cloth by her side. "Thanks for waiting again." The woman stood up and waved as Watanuki shuffled over, but dropped her hand as the girl stopped to cough, not looking well at all.

"You poor thing!" She said, rushing over to the girl's side. Watanuki coughed violently, having to stop walking completely to keep her balance as she hacked."What's wrong? Are you sick?" Mayuko asked, a little frantically, placing her arms around her shoulders and leading her to the bench to rest.

"Yeah." Watanuki gasped. "Whatever I've got is making me really dizzy." Her vision was swimming and she could barely distinguish between Mayuko's purple shawl and peach colored and pink kimono, all the colors running together.

"Come sit down." Mayuko sat the girl down on the bench, keeping her hands on the seer's shoulders. "You should've got straight home and rested."

"I can't cancel on you." The girl whispered, not wanting to leave the woman alone, not wanting to miss a visit.

"I'm sorry." Mayuko said as she sat down. "I feel like I'm forcing you to come see me."

"No! You're not!" Watanuki protested, not wanting her companion to ever feel like that. "I'm the one who wants to-" She was cut off by another fit of coughing, each one wracking her body. And then she remembered – she hadn't gotten Mayuko's coffee yet, the coffee they shared together, the coffee that she wished she could drink with her own daughter. The girl stood up shakily. "Damn…your coffee…" Mayuko was up in an instant, pushing the girl back down onto the bench.

"Sit down!" She ordered softly. Once the girl was sitting again, the woman reached up her hand to Watanuki's forehead, holding back her kimono sleeve with her other hand so it wouldn't get in the way. Watanuki blushed, taken aback by her motherly care, even though she'd started to think of Mayuko as a sort of mother to her.

"That's good, you don't have a fever." She said, placing her free hand on her own forehead to check a normal temperature against Watanuki's. Their eyes met and Mayuko realized that she'd slipped into the mother role with a girl who wasn't her own child and she got a little embarrassed, pulling her hands back and tucking them into her chest. "I-I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Watanuki said softly. "It just reminded me of something, that's all." The girl smiled at the memory of her own mother. "When I was little, and was sick, my mom and dad used to check my temperature the same way you did." Watanuki remembered the feel of bigger hands on her cheek, her forehead, remembering hope it felt to be cared for by her own parents. "You know…how you said it made you feel to drink coffee with me the other day?"

"Yes." Mayuko nodded.

"Well…I actually felt the same way when you were checking my temperature." The girl blushed a little redder, sheepish now that she'd reveal a little bit of her own affection towards the woman. "But I don't feel that way when I check my own temperature. In fact, it's just the opposite!" She joked. "It's strange! Just looking at the numbers on the thermometer make me worried about how sick I am, so I try not to do it when I'm feeling really bad. But that's just me, I guess." Suddenly, there was a pair of arms around the girl, holding her close.

"So sweet. You're such a nice girl, Watanuki." Mayuko whispered, hugging the raven a little closer. Watanuki leaned into the huge, smiling a little as she was held. _This is nice…to be held like this again…_"You should go home and get some rest."

"I'm fine." The girl replied, but then she started coughing again and Mayuko rubbed her back for her, doing what little she could to comfort the girl. Once she stopped coughing, the woman placed her hand on the girl's cheek.

"Take care of yourself." She said.

"Okay." The girl nodded. They parted soon after that and Watanuki started the walk home by herself, the empty bento box and her school bag in her hand. When she reached a certain intersection, she noted that she was pretty close to the shop and Doumeki's words came back to her about stopping by Yuko's and getting the pipe fox, just to be safe. _You know, for such a huge jerk, he really thought of everything. I'm surprised that he remembered the pipe fox. _

"Since I'm in the neighborhood, I really should stop by Yuko's." The girl said to no one in particular, and turned to the right and started walking down the street. The shop came into sight a few minutes later, peeking out from in between those two office buildings and Watanuki walked right through the gate and up to the door, coughing all the way.

"Is anybody home?" She called in the _genkan_. A few second later, excited feet pattered across the floor.

"Watanuki!~ Long time, no see!~" Maru called, turning the corner first.

"Watanuki!~ Long time, no see!~" Moro repeated, on the heels of her twin. They laughed and danced around as the girl coughed a little again.

"Yuko's still not back yet?" The seer asked. "How's everything with you two?" The twin's smiled disappeared suddenly and they got all serious, but Watanuki didn't worry about it. They were like that all the time. The phone started ringing in the other room. "Oh! I bet that's Yuko!" Watanuki had to admire the witch's timing if it really was her, but she was like that all the time. The girl walked down the hall and into the room with the phone to pick it up. "Coming!" She called, knowing that she wouldn't get an answer until she picked up the phone.

"Hello?" She greeted the other person on the line.

"Long time, no talk, Watanuki." Yuko's sultry voice came in from the other end.

"Oh, hi, Yuko! How's everything going?" Watanuki grabbed the phone consol and set it on the floor, wanting to lay down while she talked. She was still so tired.

"Busy. I still can't come home yet.

"You're been gone a long time." The girl noted, kneeling down. She was getting dizzy again.

"There are a lot of things I have to take care of." Yuko replied the static that accompanied all her recent phone calls spiking up and distorting her voice. "So it seems that some unfortunate things started to happen despite the fact that I told _you_ to take care." The witch's voice got deeper and more pointed as she spoke, as if she was raising and eyebrow on the other end of the line.

"Wait, what things?!" Watanuki asked, not understanding what she was getting at. Nothing unfortunate had happened! "What are you talking about?!"

"Well, you are sick, aren't you?" Yuko asked, as if she already knew the answer.

"Wait, how did you know that?!" Her sudden intake of breath caused another fit of coughing and the girl covered her mouth with her hand as she forced air out of her lungs, each cough getting more and more wet. Her lungs hurt, her chest ached and she couldn't breathe, she couldn't do anything except hack and wheeze. She coughed particularly hard, retching all the way from her lower torso, her lungs flaring up in pain as something fell into her hand. The girl blearily looked down at what it was, seeing only red. Her eyes widened in shock as she started down at the blood she'd just thrown up, her vision swimming. She'd retched blood, she'd retched blood! That wasn't good, that wasn't good at all! What should she do?! What could she do?! Her blood pooled in her hands, flecks spattering across her skin and shirt cuff before running down her wrist as her hand trembled, staining her sleeve. She couldn't thing straight. What should she do?!

"You've been seeing that woman…" Yuko's voice floated up from the phone. Watanuki stared at it in horror before bowing over and hacking again. She could taste copper of her blood on her tongue, feeling more slip out from her lungs. She was losing her vision now, everything running into one big blur of black and grey and yellow before going completely dark. She collapsed, unable to breathe, her hand flopping to the floor, throwing the phone down.

"Watanuki? Watanuki? What's wrong? Watanuki!" Yuko's voice was fading as she called through the phone. The girl's eyes slid shut as she passed out, her blood staining the tatami mats under her. The phone disconnected, the busy signal blaring in the otherwise quiet room.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

_An invitation. A smile. A promise. They can tie you to a certain place…a certain time. _

_Would you like to spend some time with me?_

_Secrets. Memories. Confessions. They can tie you to a place even more closely, more securely. _

_My dream has finally been fulfilled…thanks to you. _

_You should've gone straight home and rested! _

_I can't cancel on you._

_So sweet. You're such a nice girl, Watanuki. _

_Bonds. Communion. Sympathy. They tie you down, hold you, and entice you…_

There was a thump, the sound of a phone being disconnected, the blaring busy signal echoing in the quiet room.

She was moving, but not moving at the same time. She was being pulled…dragged…by someone. There were cobblestones under her as her eyes opened. Her knees dragged across them, scuffing her skin. She's have scratches, but she really didn't care right now. She just wanted to go back to sleep. Being awake was painful. She ached all over. Her mouth tasted weird. Her skin felt sticky, clammy. Her chest hurt. She just wanted to sleep. But there were voices. They were saying something…oh. It was her name.

"Watanuki…"

"Watanuki…"

The girl moaned, her body being dragged one more step, two steps. Her arms were being held up, her head dangling down towards the ground. She opened her eyes a little more.

"Watanuki." Two voices called her. Maru and Moro were carrying her. Watanuki looked up to her right. Moro's side. The pink-haired girl's eyes looked really sad. She wondered why.

"Maru and Moro, cannot go outside the gate." She said in her high-pitched voice.

"We're sorry." Watanuki's head rolled down and then up, looking to her left. Maru's side. "But this is as far as we can take you." The blue-haired girl finished. _Oh. We're outside the shop. I was in the shop…Yuko called…I was sick…_the girl remembered the blood and she tried to be shocked, but she was too tired. Everything would be better if she just went back to sleep.

"We're sorry." They said together. "Someone else…will take you the rest of the way…"

"What do you mean…by that?" Watanuki whispered. Maru and Moro dragged the girl up, almost to her feet and then pushed her back, letting her fall out of the gate and onto the street. _They really aren't going to come outside the gate…_the girl thought. _I'll just hit the ground and lay there. I wonder if the street will make more of my blood come out…that wouldn't be good…I already coughed up enough…_The girl fell, the pavement coming up on her face pretty fast. She was about to hit the ground. She closed her eyes so she didn't have to see it. But she never hit.

Something jerked her to a stop, her collar nearly choking her. She opened her eyes again and turned her head to the right – Moro's side – to see who it was.

"Dou…meki…: She whispered. _Oh…he looks pissed. _And he did, for once. Doumeki's eyebrows were furrowed, slanted over his eyes, his mouth pulled into a predominant frown. She's never seen Doumeki like this…it was kind of scary. But Watanuki didn't have time to be scared because she was unconscious again, everything fading to black again.

Doumeki glared down at the girl he'd caught falling. She'd suddenly appeared out of nowhere, the gate behind her leading to just and empty, weed-filled lot, and yet, she fell out of it anyway. Doumeki looked Watanuki over as he pulled her up by her jacket and then scooped his arm under her knees and then shifted his other so that he could support her torso and chest. She was pale, much paler than she'd been at school and her breathing was erratic, but at least she wasn't coughing. He could see that someone – probably that Maru and Moro that Watanuki had told him about – had probably cleaned her up a little before dragging her ass outside. There were blood stains on one of her shirt cuffs, but no blood on her skin, and her mouth had been wiped too, judging from the few small, red streaks that he could see on her lips, which means that she had been coughing up blood.

Doumeki sighed, and then listened to the girl's breathing again, debating whether or not he should take her to the hospital just to be safe, but Yuko had told him to take Watanuki back to his temple, and that probably meant that she was not going to need a doctor's help right this second. She'd probably be okay. But that was too many 'probablys' for Doumeki. He glared down at the girl in his arms again, cursing her stupidity and knack for getting herself into trouble, knowing that she couldn't see it anyway. He started the long walk home, each step taking him further and further away from the shop that didn't exist for him.

For the second time that day, Watanuki blinked her eyes open in a completely different place from where she'd closed them. She started up at the single light she could see and the wood paneling of the ceiling, trying to figure out where she girl was lying on something soft – a futon – and a blanket covered her up to her neck. It smelled of lemons and sandalwood…a smell that was familiar to the seer…oh, that's right. That was what Doumeki smelled like. Which means…

"Where am I?" Watanuki asked, already half knowing the answer. "This place…"

"I brought you to my house." Doumeki said.

"But…" The raven drew her hand up to her face, rubbing her eyes, remembering why she was feeling like shit in the first place. _Oh, that's right…I didn't feel well…I was coughing up blood…_"How come?" She finished her sentence.

"Because I got a telephone call from Yuko." Doumeki replied. Watanuki rolled her head in the direction of his voice – to the left – and spotted the archer leaning against the sliding doors of the room, his left knee propped up, his left arm slung around it while his right one rested on the floor. Their school bags were tossed on the floor and he was still in his uniform, probably having come straight after archery practice or possibly having skipped the end of it altogether, just for her. "She said, 'go to the shop.'"

"Why?" Watanuki asked.

"She wanted me to pick you up, I guess." Doumeki sounded like he didn't know if that was the reason for him being there, but it certainly had worked out better for Watanuki that way. She still felt like death had a grip on her throat and lungs, but she couldn't taste copper anywhere in her mouth so that was an improvement. And Doumeki had taken off her gray uniform jacket so she wasn't too hot under the blanket and that was considerate, as much as it pained her to admit it. He wasn't as bad as she made him out to be and now, she could kind of see his compassionate nature, under all that stone-face and superior attitude, of course.

"She said you're in danger." Doumeki replied. "And that…" Doumeki turned his head down towards his companion. "And at this rate you could completely disappear."

"Disa-?" Her reaction would've been more fantastic and spazzy if she'd had more energy, but at the moment, all Watanuki could do was widen her eyes in shock.

"I think she means you might die." Doumeki's voice became a little quieter, like he didn't even want to utter what _might_ happen, as if saying it would _make_ it happen.

"But…why would-" She started, rolling her head back straight and trying to wrap her head around the possibility that she might die without doing anything dangerous. She hadn't even been seeing any spirits lately so what was happening to her?!

_You've been seeing that woman…_

Yuko's voice came into her head from the phone call she'd had with the witch just a little while ago. Watanuki laid her arm down on her stomach, over the blanket and gripped the material in her trembling fist.

"But…but she's never done anything to hurt me…" The raven whispered, neglecting the fact that Doumeki might not being understanding a word she was saying. "I've never felt sick either."

"Can you think of anything else it might possibly be?" _Well, he's got some idea what's going on…maybe Yuko said something. _

"Uh…" But she couldn't.

"Face the facts. You said you hadn't see any spirits lately…what else could it be?" Doumeki was being very logical about this, but Watanuki…she didn't – couldn't – believe it.

"She can't be…" The girl held back some sudden tears that sprang up to her eyes. "I know she's not a bad person."

"But you don't even know if she's human or not." Once again, a very logical answer. But this…this was a matter of the heart.

"Even so…even if she's not…I made a promise to her…" Watanuki could barely keep her eyes open, still exhausted and sick and just tired of trying to riddle out what Doumeki wanted her too. It didn't matter if Mayuko was human or not…she was still a person, one with her of set of pain and suffering and just wanted to spend some time with her. "To meet her later…at the park." Watanuki's eyes slid shut again as she drifted back into a restless sleep, confident that she could at least rest safely at Doumeki's. Her face looked sunken in on itself and more pale than when Doumeki had first picked her up, her body physically looking taxed and tired even while resting.

Doumeki didn't know how things were going to turn out this time, especially with Watanuki being so stubborn about her promises, even if they were making her sick and killing her. She was Watanuki and if this was something she chose to do, then he would be there to keep her safe. That's the only thing he'd ever tried to do, despite the girl's best efforts to get into trouble and almost kill herself for others, and this time was no different. He guessed that's why Yuko called him to bring her here, because he cared so much for her and potentially had the ability to protect the one he loved. And he did love her…her and all her loudness. But, with an inevitable fate of death predominantly looming in front of her, Doumeki was seriously worried this time, almost to the point of forcing the girl to stay at the temple where she'd be safe, where she could rest, but Watanuki would hate him for it.

So, instead, Doumeki leaned forward, shucked off his jacked, using it as a pillow, and laid down to sleep next to the seer as if his sheer proximity could keep her safe, promising in his own way that he wouldn't let anything harm her if he could help it.

And that's where Watanuki found Doumeki when she woke up later that evening. The girl groggily opened her eyes, genuinely grateful that she hadn't awoken in some other place like she'd been doing all day and rolled her head to where Doumeki had been sitting to see if he was still there. He wasn't. In fact, he was a lot closer to her (and probably more so than he'd originally intended because he was taking up half the futon at this point) and she yelped in shock before remembering that her throat was still raw and instantly regretting the action. The ache had dulled a little and it was still there but her voice was loud (and scratchy) enough to wake Doumeki from his own nap, his bronze eyes opening almost instantly.

"What do you think you're doing?" Watanuki whisper-hissed, a little peeved about the lack of space between them. It wasn't like she didn't appreciate his presence or anything, but the last time she'd slept with Doumeki (and that phrase sounded really horrible in her head) he'd been half naked and he'd also changed her into pajamas while she was unconscious. She was just being cautious, no matter how good or innocent his intentions were.

"Sleeping." The brunette replied sitting up and scratching his head.

"I can see that!" Watanuki hissed a little louder, setting off a short bout of coughing. Doumeki watched quietly as the girl rode out her fit and reached behind her back and shoulders to help her sit up and breathe easier. (And he could've sworn that he heard a 'thank you' mixed in with all the coughing but he couldn't quite be sure.)

"Water?" He asked, once Watanuki finished coughing, breathing heavily to catch her breath again. "Tea?"

"Water." Watanuki replied, not even fighting his offer at this point. She was too sick and tired to protest. "Then tea."

Doumeki nodded and left, heading towards the kitchen to make some tea, but he asked Watanuki if she needed help getting to the bathroom if she needed to go. To that, the girl threw her school bag at him and called him some very bad names. _At least she's still herself, _Doumeki sighed to himself and went to get her a glass of water and start the tea. He returned with the glass shortly after he left and handed it to his companion, letting her drink it slowly before taking the empty glass back to the kitchen. After that, he finished making tea, placed two plain, Japanese-style cups on the tray with the pot and walked back to his room where the seer was, hearing soft coughing noises every now and again. She was still sitting up, looking down at her hands in her lap despondently. She still hadn't reached for her glasses and her hair was falling out of its pony tail at this point, but she made no move to fix it. She was just staring into space.

The archer set the tray down on the floor and walked behind the girl, kneeling down and gently untying the ribbon that kept her hair up. It cascaded down in a river of black, the tips brushing her shoulder blades and Doumeki ran his fingers through her hair, trying to brush out at least some of the tangles. Watanuki didn't say anything, still spacing out, but her head leaned back into his hands slightly, liking soft movements, similar to a cat liking its head being petted. Doumeki gently combed the girl's hair for a few minutes before clumsily pulling it back up into a pony tail and tying up the ribbon again, wondering how girls made it look effortless. It was as this point that Watanuki finally came back to the present and noticed that Doumeki had been playing with her hair, but it was too late to chew him out about it because he was moving away, walking on his knees over to the tea tray. Watanuki blushed, berating herself for letting him pet her like some animal and took the offered cup of tea without looking in his eyes, trying to hide her blush under her bangs. But he saw it, and it was still one of his favorite things about Watanuki – how cute she looked with pink cheeks. But of course, he said nothing, knowing that if he did, she could and would rip his head off for teasing her.

So they drank tea in silence, the quite of the room their only other companion. They didn't even need to speak at this point because that's how well they knew each other. After their previous discussion, Watanuki knew that Doumeki was worried for her, but he also knew that she wasn't going to break a promise she had made, and that's the way they were. So they stayed silent, neither giving in to the other, but neither denied the other their worries either. Eventually, Watanuki knew it was time to go home (after three pots of tea and one – very embarrassing – trip to the bathroom with Doumeki's held since she was still weak). The girl slowly put on her jacket, feeling her body ache and moan at her to stay and sleep and do nothing, but nevertheless, she still buttoned up her jacket and picked up her school bag. Doumeki walked her to the door and slid it open for her, gently taking her arm to steady her when she wobbled, woozy and weak as she was. He also helped her put her shoes on when they reached the front stairs of the temple, insisting that she sit down in few words and slipped on her shoes for her so she wouldn't get light headed leaning over to tie up her laces. Watanuki felt a little helpless in those moments, but she was a bit too tired and worn out to care. She just wanted to be home in her own bed.

"I'll walk you home." Doumeki said when he was done tying her shoes, sutubly hinting at his worry.

"No. I can't be any more indebted to you at this point. My bento lunches can't afford it." Watanuki chuckled weakly and gave him a sarcastic smirk.

"It'll be free." He replied. Watanuki tipped her head, her black bangs falling over her face, obscuring her eyes and cheeks.

"Nothing in this world is free." Her sounded voice was solemn and slightly bitter, but before Doumeki could say anything she started hopped down from the porch and into the front courtyard. "Only inevitable, remember?" The seer chuckled mirthlessly, her footsteps echoing softly on the cobblestones. She reached the temple's gates a few moments later and disappeared around the corner and out of sight, leaving behind the man who watched her go.

The next day at school, Watanuki still felt horrible, wracked with shivers and lethargy that usually accompanied a cold, but she still didn't carry a fever. The morning was spent trying not to hack her lungs out in class and gym was spent sitting out on the sidelines and trying not to fall asleep where she sat, Doumeki's eyes always trained on her from the corner of his eyes. And then it was lunch. Watanuki walked through the cafeteria holding her lunch tray tightly, the school-prepared udon and tofu sloshing just a little bit with each step. Wari called out to the girl when he saw her approaching.

"Over here, Watanuki! I saved you a seat!" The girl smiled, happy that her friend had thought of her.

"Hey, Wari." She replied softly, her lethargy creeping into her voice.

"You know, I never thought I'd catch you eating cafeteria food. You didn't make your lunch today?" The boy asked as she sat down next to him at one of the many tables.

"Nah, I just didn't feeling like making one today for some reason." She replied. Wari leaned in closer and got a good look at the girl. Sure, she looked tired and a little pale, but she seemed a little better than yesterday.

"Well, at least you look like you're feeling better today." Wari commented. "I was so worried when you collapsed!"

"Oh, sorry about that." The raven blushed in embarrassment, picking up her disposable chopsticks and breaking them apart. "Oh, I almost forget to give you something!" Watanuki reached into her school bag and brought out a small, ribbon-wrapped package. "Here you go, I hope you like it. Sorry, I got is from a store."

"I bet I know which store!" Wari smiled, pleased with the gift. "It's from the one on the west side of the park, right?"

"I was going to make something myself, but I kind of ran out of time."

"No, that's okay! You didn't have to do this but thanks, Watanuki!" Wari took the gift and smiled. "I also have a gift for you, for White Day! Here!" (2). Wari held up a small package for the girl.

"Thanks." Watanuki smiled and took the gift gratefully. Before she could say anything else, Wari was looking at something over her shoulder, distracted from the conversation.

"Hey, look. There goes Doumeki." Wari said. Watanuki turned to see the archer walking down the hall in his uniform, bag in hand, passing in front of the cafeteria for a few moments and then disappearing behind the wall that held classrooms. "The competition's getting close. He's been really busy.

"Yeah, I guess so." Watanuki said, wondering that if he was so busy, then why had he taken care of her yesterday.

"Are you going to the tournament?" Wari asked. Watanuki flipped around in shock, a sweatdrop on her cheek.

"Why would I?" She asked, recalling that the last time she'd been to one of Doumeki's competitions Wari had practically dragged her there.

"To cheer on Doumeki!" Wari replied with a smile.

"I don't…" The girl started, thinking about everything that had been happening to her over the past week or so. She was sick, Doumeki and Yukok thought that she could die, she hadn't seen any spirits but something was wrong and it wasn't getting better. She thought about all of this in about a second and then finished. "I don't think I'm going to make it." Her voice was soft, holding a million meanings.

"Don't strain yourself, okay?" Wari asked, concern written in his dark green eyes.

"Okay," Watanuki agreed. But that didn't stop her from going out in the cold to meet Mayuko after school, stumbling her way slowly towards the fox seats that sat in the small clearing of trees. When she reached the toys, no one was there except her. She was alone. Mayuko wasn't coming. _She's not here…she's not going to come, is she? Just when I resolved not to break my promise…she didn't come. _But before the girl could think any more, she heard footsteps behind her and turned to see who it was. _Mayuko. _The woman was standing in her yellow haori and orange kimono, her hair pulled into a side pony tail, and unreadable look in her eyes. Watanuki smiled and waved, a warm feeling bursting into her chest as she walked up to her companion and led her to her customary seat on the yellow fox. Watanuki sat down on the blue fox and they shared a moment of quite with each other.

"I'm so glad." Watanuki started, "I thought I wouldn't be able to see you today." As she spoke, the cold air around her tickled her throat, making her cough a little as she tried to adjust. She placed her hand over her mouth to as she coughed, and Mayuko was looking at her, concern written all over her face, her dark eyes sad. "Don't worry…it's o-okay -" The girl got out before she was coughing again, trying to keep it under control.

"We shouldn't…" Mayuko started to speak as Watanuki finished coughing and her body calmed down. The seer looked at the woman waiting for her to go on. Mayuko didn't look at her. "We shouldn't meet like this anymore." The statement shocked her, her eyes going wide, her heart almost skipping a beat. Not being able to see Mayuko…someone who made her feel loved and safe just like her own mother had all those years ago? It was impossible to think about after they'd spent so much time together. Watanuki gasped, but Mayuko still wouldn't look her in the face. "I think it would be better for both of us."

"But why?!" Watanuki's voice had taken on a desperate tone, not wanting to lose her companion so soon. "If I've said something to offend you, I'm sorry!"

"No…" Mayuko denied.

"If it's me you're worried about, please don't, I'm here because I want-" The girl stood up wanting to do something to stop this conversation but she just ended up coughing all over again, her lung starting to ache from the cold air.

"That's not it." Mayuko said quietly, her head still down. "I had fun…thank you for that. It's okay now." Watanuki took two steps forward, her hands coming up slightly to reach out to the woman.

"But you said you always felt lonely!" She argued, finally able to speak. "You told me that! I-"

"I have to go." Mayuko said quickly, standing up and walking down the path she'd come.

"Wait!" Watanuki stumbled after her, feeling like her heart was being torn in two, like she was losing something she'd just barely begun to know and love. The girl tottered after the retreating woman, but before she got very far, another fit washed over her and she had to stop walking just to balanced, the physical ache and loss of breath mirroring her own inner turmoil. _Don't go! Come back! _Her heart called out to Mayuko but she didn't come back. She kept walking away, almost running as she tears slid down Watanuki's face, unable to speak to call her back, only able to hack and wheeze as her sickness prevented her from saying anything to comfort Mayuko, from saying that she wanted her to stay.

Mayuko disappeared into the park's little grove, turning around a tree and vanishing down the path. Watanuki wouldn't be able to catch up to her in the condition she was in. She could barely stand, but she still managed to wobble her way down the path as well, one hand over her mouth as she coughed, the other reaching for something that wouldn't come back to her. She felt completely empty now, having lost something precious to her so suddenly and without warning, and she walked home in a daze, not knowing what else to do. She didn't even turn on the light as she entered and she was so worn out and defeated that she just grabbed her pillow and collapsed on the floor of her room. She didn't even bother with a futon and just turned on her little heater and lay on the tatami mats despondently, not even changing out of her uniform.

She slept fitfully all night and skipped school the next day, having no desire to see anyone or to go out and do anything. The day passed in bouts of coughing and restless naps and no food, because she didn't want to eat anything or make anything. She didn't even leave the house to try and visit Mayuko…she might not even be in the park so what was the point? Mayuko didn't want to see her so she shouldn't go. But it hurt, it hurt not to try.

The natural light in her room eventually started to fade as the sun traveled towards night, but she didn't do anything. She still didn't want to eat, she didn't do her homework, she had no desire to check on the shop or call Yuko, Wari was probably doing homework and Doumeki was busy with archery practice, so she couldn't call either of them (not that she _wanted_ to call Doumeki, but it would be nice to hear his steady voice as this turmoil roamed around inside of her). The girl slumped even further into the floor as the shadows of day deepened into twilight.

The only things she did manage to do was cough over and over again and think about all the places that she'd met and talked with Mayuko. The bench by the fountain…the fox seats…walking by the koi pond…the bench by the wide walking path and the river…Mayuko was sitting on that bench, looking down at her hands folded in her lap. She could see her. The cool spring wind was whipping loose leaves all over the place, ruffling the woman's hair as she sat in silence, all alone. The sun was behind her, slowly setting, the shadows of the benches and the lamp post growing longer with each passing minute. Mayuko finally looked up, her head turning left to watch the path stretching into the distance, each of its lampposts unlit. She was looking for someone, waiting for someone…but they weren't coming. She looked the other way, hope still on her face until she saw that that path was empty too. She looked down at her hands again and sighed, still lonely.

Watanuki awoke, the vivid dream swimming before her eyes. She was crying, tears slipping down her cheeks and onto her pillow. It was so real, the dream was Mayuko's reality, it always had been until Watanuki showed up. And it had been Watanuki's reality for so much of her life as well. She'd been alone and she knew that loneliness very well. It was horrible, to be without friends or family and the loneliness could only be filled by someone else. You couldn't fix it on your own very well and even if you did…it wouldn't last very long. That's what Watanuki had felt for so long until she met Yuko and Maru and Moro and Mokona and Wari and Doumeki and all her spirit friends (no matter how unreasonable or crazy they were).

And that's why she had to go. Mayuko needed her.

"She was crying…I can't do this." Watanuki sat up, her despondency lifting, her heart filling with the need to visit the park, to see _her_. "I won't hurt her." The girl wiped away her tears and grabbed her glasses from next to her pillow. She pulled herself to her feet and steadied herself as much as she could before staggering towards her door. She looked a mess and she knew it, no jacket, dirty white school shirt, wrinkly green skirt, her hair was loose and tangle by not seeing a brush all day, but she was still going. Watanuki lurched another step towards the door. "I have to find her."

The phone started ringing, its insistence cutting through the quiet of the girl's apartment and Watanuki knew that with such perfect timing to her going out when it hadn't rung all day it had to be Yuko. But she didn't care what Yuko was going to say or try to make her stop, this was something she had to do. Something only she could do. "I'll find her." She stumbled out of her apartment and hazily slipped on her shoes, leaving the shrill ringing of the telephone behind her.

Watanuki may not have a fever, but her head felt like it had one, her thoughts all jumbled and hazy, and her vision swimming and disoriented. She was sweating, even in the chill night air as she tottered down the rows of houses to the park. She probably looked like a walking mess, but she had to go, she had to keep going, that's all she knew she had to do.

"I have to go." She whispered, "If I'm not there for her…she'll be alone." The image of Mayuko sitting alone on that bench swam in front of her eyes, pulling at the girl's heart. She couldn't do that to her, it hurt too much. So she kept walking, the darkening clouds and the setting sun the only witnesses to her agony.

They also saw Doumeki too. The young man was in the archery range, all lit up for the club, practicing for the tournament, the sound of whizzing arrows and the _thunk_ they made when they hit the target almost constant in the night air. Doumeki was quiet and sullen that evening, his teammates chalking up his pinched eyebrows (something they normally didn't see) to concentration and pressure since he was the best archer on the team. But they were totally wrong. As Doumeki set up his next shot, hooking that arrow into his bow and pulling it up to shoot, his body in a perfect stance, he was worrying about something else besides the tournament.

Watanuki hadn't been at school that day. She hadn't even shown up or called to let the school know that she was staying home or that she was sick. She hadn't said anything to Wari (whom she told most everything) and Wari was the only one who'd seen her leave the school the day before. Doumeki hadn't had the time to call her home or check on her in person to see if she was okay, but in all honesty he knew already that she wasn't doing well. She was sick, probably dying according to Yuko and he was here, at archery practice, because of his own obligations to the team. He should be with her, to protect her or at least make her feel a little safe, to have some kind of company whether she liked him or not. Doumeki knew that she'd been seeing that woman, the woman that Yuko had hinted at was making her sick. She shouldn't be visiting someone that was harming her, but Watanuki felt an attachment to this woman Mayuko and if she could be with her for whatever reason it was, she would be. And on that thought, with the pull of the bowstring, the slight chafe of his glove on his skin, his eyes lined up with the bull's eye on the target, Doumeki let go and made his shot.

His bowstring snapped violently, sending his arrow into the embankment where the targets were set up and missing completely. The bottom half of the string fell to the floor, the top half whipping him in the face slightly with its recoil but Doumeki still brought his left arm down to rest on his hip with professional ease and tucked his bow under his right forearm. He looked down at the broken bowstring with a cool glare, his thoughts still swirling around Watanuki, the bow string itself mirroring much of his thoughts. This was a breaking point of some sort.

He was done practicing for the night. He knew it. He had to leave.

So Doumeki turned away from the range and excused himself, only taking a few minutes to restring his bow and put on his practice zori before leaving, carrying nothing but his convictions and his weapon with him.

The sun had set, the evening fading to dusk as Watanuki lurched down the wide walking path that followed the river. She was almost to the benches where they'd met and talking for hours. She was almost there…almost there…if she could just get there…to make sure Mayuko was alright…that she wasn't lonely…then everything would be fine. Watanuki made it a few minutes later, a few dozen feet away, looking at the lone figure sitting on their bench. She was there, she had been waiting. Mayuko was like the one brilliant thing in the deepening dusk, her bright pink kimono and light pink shawl the only real colors in the shadowed evening. Watanuki smiled, her heart leaping as she saw that despite Mayuko's wish not to see her, that she'd still been waiting. She did want to see her…she did still care. Watanuki took another step forward, the noise drawing Mayuko's attention, her head coming up to look at the girl.

"You came back." She whispered, her face part shock, part worry and part knowing. Watanuki was still smiling, even as sweat rolled down her skin, even as her body aches and groaned, even as she weakly walked over, her shoulders slumped, and sat down heavily, so tired.

"Sorry I'm late." She whispered, her voice not nearly strong enough to talk. "I hope you didn't get too cold waiting." Mayuko sighed. Watanuki opened her mouth to say something, but a cough came out instead, triggering her lungs to keep coughing and hacking. She slapped her hand over her mouth, not wanting Mayuko to catch whatever she had and rode out the fit.

"I knew it was going to turn out like this." Mayuko said as the girl beside her endured her sickness. Watanuki paused to breath for a second, looking at the woman, a little confused, but had to look away as her lung forced more air out of her body. Her coughs were wet now, threatening to hack up phlegm or blood and Watanuki didn't want Mayuko to see that if it did happen so she turned her head away. "I knew that the more I saw you, the more time we spent together…the more you'd suffer. This is my fault." Watanuki panted, finally able to breathe again.

"I…I was told that." She said, admitting that she knew, at least in part, that Mayuko was responsible for her sickness.

"Then why did you keep coming back?!" Her voice was still soft, but Mayuko was greatly distressed at Watanuki's destructive behavior, even if it meant that they spent time together.

"I guess because…when you're lonely, it seems…that I'm lonely too." The raven whispered. She didn't see it, but Mayuko's face held realization and worry and her eyes started to shine like she was going to cry. It hurt her to know that this young girl, the wonderful, beautiful, kind young woman was suffering because of their relationship. And yet, she did it because she wasn't worried about her, she was worried about Mayuko herself. That hurt her almost as much as it comforted her.

Watanuki had another fit, this one so strong that it hand both of her hands on her mouth, her body folded over on the bench as her torso convulsed, each cough sounding worse than the last. Mayuko watched, conflicted by her own emotions for her companion, wanting to reach out and comfort her, to let the girl know that she was there for her, but knowing that she'd only make it worse if she did. She didn't want to hurt Watanuki anymore. But despite her want to comfort, despite that her hand came up on its own, floating above the girl's back, she still held back. She held back because she knew if she touched her again, it might kill her. So she drew back, her eyes darkening with want and worry and sorrow. Watanuki fell to the ground, slipping off of the bench and another her knees, still coughing, still hurting and unable to get in a good breath. It was horrible to watch, but Mayuko held back. She held back a few moments more, stuck between wishing she could help and wanting to end the girl's pain but know that it would kill her this time. She'd have Watanuki's blood on her hands if she did. But the girl couldn't breathe, she couldn't speak and she was suffering, unable to do anything but let her body convulse in pain as she coughed and coughed and coughed. Finally, Mayuko couldn't stand not doing anything anymore and got up to kneel down next to the girl, her hand reaching out in comfort…

"_Don't touch her_." A harsh, deep voice commanded. It was filled with venom and anger, enough to make Mayuko withdraw her hand, fear spiking down her spine. She looked up. A young man she'd never seen before was walking towards them, dressed in a white kimono top and black hakama, a bow tucked under his arm. He looked like a serious individual, his face angry, his steps harsh on the pavement. He steadily walked towards the pair, his eyes trained on Mayuko, freezing her in place with their intensity.

"Is that…Doumeki…" Watanuki huffed out in between pants as she tried to catch her breath. Mayuko understood now, it was a friend of Watanuki's, someone else who cared for her. "I knew you'd go and see her no matter what I said to you." He said, his statement directed at the crumbled girl on the ground.

It pained Doumeki to see her like that, completely defenseless and vulnerable, even if the woman next to her had nothing but the best intentions for their time together. He would not let anything hurt her as long as he was living if he could help it. He was there to protect Watanuki. That's the way it always had been since their meeting, but now it was so much more. He loved her. He loved her with every fiber in his being and he would not let anything take her away from him, even herself. That was the choice he'd made, despite however Watanuki felt about it.

"So it turns out she wasn't human after all."Doumeki said once he'd walked up in front of them, several feet away. He'd started hard at the woman next to Watanuki and saw that despite her human form and kind face, he could see the bench through her form, she was a spirit. A spirit that was killing Watanuki. The pair stared at him for a moment, the silence stretching between then, but Doumeki had already made his choice.

He stepped his right foot back, his hands at his hips and he brought up his bow steadily.

"Don't do it." Watanuki pleaded, knowing what he was doing. Doumeki didn't have a normal arrow, so that meant…

"Out of the way." He commanded, not leaving any room for argument, tossing his head to emphasize his point. He drew up his bow so he could grab the newly strung bowstring, and then pulled his bow forward with his left hand and his right hand back. The bowstring stretched and lengthened, pulling taut, straining against the strength of his arm.

"Leave her alone!" Watanuki found the strength in her voice to shout, hating seeing his bow, the bow of someone she respected and loved, pointed at someone else that she loved. It was the worst feeling. She wanted them both, but she couldn't do that. She'd lose one or the other or both at this point. She couldn't have it both ways, she knew that, but she just had to try, to try and stop him before he did something that he couldn't take back. Before he broke her heart.

Doumeki's bow was set, his face a mask, his eyes holding only determination and anger.

"Stop! I said don't do it!" Watanuki felt her skin go cold, her breath almost stop as she leapt in front of Mayuko. No, it couldn't end like this. He had to stop! Didn't he know how much this was going to hurt her?! Wasn't he supposed to protect her? To be on her side? To stay by her? To help her be happy? Isn't what he wanted? It was what she wanted! What she'd wanted and almost had for a long time now. And he was going to destroy it! _Stop, Doumeki! Don't do this! Don't! _

Doumeki did it. He let go of the bowstring, letting his arrow fly.

It came at them, a bolt of light shooting towards Watanuki's chest quickly and without mercy. It would probably pass through her because she wasn't a spirit, but she was going to stay right there and take the hit anyway. She had to protect Mayuko! That was her choice. But Watanuki forgot that Mayuko had a choice as well.

And she chose to let go of Watanuki, to protect the girl in the face of the consequences.

She shoved the girl out of the way, the arrow piercing her chest as she cried out. Her shawl fell from her arms and disappeared, her body lighting up as Doumeki's power of exorcism purified her.

"Why…?" Watanuki whispered, staring in horror at what Doumeki had done. There was light all around them and it was beautiful, but all she could see was the darkness without Mayuko's smile, no matter how short of a time they'd spent together. Mayuko turned to look at the girl, an expression of peace and happiness glowing on her face.

"I'm not lonely anymore." She said, her voice echoing as if she were already gone. "You've brought me so much happiness…from our time together. I'm not lonely anymore because I was able to be with you." She reached up and touched the girl's face, no longer afraid of hurting her. She couldn't hurt her anymore, it was a relief. Watanuki's face crumbled, horror turning into sorrow and grief. Her body was disappearing, her feet gone and then her legs her torso…"And you won't be lonely anymore either." Her chest and hands and kimono sleeves were fading away now too. "Because whether or not you realize it, there are people around you who need you. There are people who don't want to lose you."

Mayuko smiled, her hand ghosting over Watanuki's as the girl reached for her. She looked so happy…right before she faded away into wisps of smoke floating away in the dusk. Tears ran down Watanuki's face as one string of smoke sank down. She cupped it in her hands for only a moment before it too disappeared, taking every bit of Mayuko that she had known away forever. The girl sobbed, the sound escaping her. Doumeki was the only one who heard it.

"Why?" She asked Doumeki, her voice hard, even in sorrow. "Why did you shoot her?! Is it because she wasn't human?" Watanuki whispered, curling up into herself as her grief overtook her.

"It wasn't that!" Doumeki snapped, still angry with her. Couldn't she see? Didn't she know how devastated he'd be if he lost her? Could she not see that? "I made a choice." He said, and now he'd have to deal with the consequences. If Watanuki hated him, so be it. She wouldn't be alive to hate him if he'd done nothing, and he'd rather her live and hate him then die. Her eyes already held some of that hate and it hurt him deeply, but she was alive.

Watanuki looked up at her classmate, tears falling from her eyes. She knew that they would never be the same again. Their relationship had changed and they could never go back to the way they used to be. Doumeki was staring down, his gaze hard. This was the most emotion she'd ever seen him display for a long period of time and it was scary. Doumeki was scary when he was mad…but Watanuki couldn't quite tell what he was mad about. Was he mad that the spirit was making her sick? Was he angry that Watanuki went to see her anyway? Was he mad that she was causing trouble for him again? She didn't know. Watanuki hated seeing Doumeki like this, even in her grief at losing her companion couldn't shut out that feeling of regret and discomfort that Doumeki was mad at _her_. Watanuki coughed a few times, the shudders of her chest distracting her from her thoughts. She hacked and wheezed until the fit was over. She looked up at Doumeki again, not wanting to admit that he was right, that her sickness wasn't something that she could handle on her own, and that she couldn't have gotten over it with Mayuko there. She didn't want to admit anything to him, especially after what he had done. Her eyes narrowed, glaring at him for a brief moment and then she collapsed, the archer's hard face looming to the side and then fading away into unconsciousness.

Watanuki opened in her eyes to light in a new place, but it was familiar. The paneled ceiling was staring down at her and she was resting on a futon, a red blanket draped over her. She knew where she was even in those first moments were sleep and reality were still jumbled together. She was at the shop.

"So…you're finally awake." Yuko was there, sitting next to the girl with her arm propped up on one upright knee in a light pink kimono with an elaborate necklace curling down her chest. Her hair was down, some of the black strands draping over her body and Watanuki's as well.

"Yuko…" Watanuki started, surprised to see the witch there unexpectedly after such a long absence. "What about your work?"

"All finished." The woman replied. "Without incident."

"That's good." Watanuki sighed.

"On the other hand, I'd say that you'd seemed to have suffered a lot of incident."

" You could say that." Watanuki smiled a little at the understatement. "I've been dealing with stuff like this a lot lately."

"I guess you have." Yuko answered, a small smile on her own face.

"I suppose Doumeki carried me here?" Watanuki asked, loathing the fact that she'd been helpless again and had to rely on Doumeki after what he'd done.

"Yes." Yuko nodded in affirmation.

"I am so pathetic." The girl sighed.

"I guess you are." The witch's smile got a little bigger. Watanuki chuckled dryly.

"Now that was just mean." The seer paused, finding the right words to say to her boss, her emotions all mixed up. "I sorry, Yuko...that I didn't listen to your warning." _And probably blatantly ignored the second one, _she added silently.

"It's okay. You made a choice. You wanted to see her, even though you knew you'd put your life in danger." Yuko leaned in a little closer. "It's just like I've always told you…a person can wish for anything they think they want. It can be happiness or unhappiness."

"I don't get it." Watanuki replied, still not understanding her words.

"No matter what you wished for it's the result that matters." Yuko leaned down even further, resting her elbows on the floor, her face inches away from Watanuki's. "As long as you don't regret the result, it's alright. Do you understand now?" Yuko paused, letting those thoughts sink in. "Doumeki had to make a choice, just as you had to. He chose to shoot, even if it hurt you…even if it caused you to hate him." The snap of the bowstring echoed in Watanuki's head, the sound pricking her guilt. She didn't know how to feel about Doumeki…he did save her…but he also hurt her. "So that he could stop you from disappearing."

Tears sprang to Watanuki's eyes, knowing that Doumeki cared for her that much, knowing that he'd saved her from dying. But it still hurt, it would always hurt in some way.

"So now you have another choice to make, Watanuki." Yuko's voice grew more serious, her cranberry eyes watching the girl. "About how you're going to treat Doumeki from now on." Yuko sat up and leaned back on one of her hands, the other returning to her knee. "You haven't yet asked me what she was."

"No." Watanuki shook her head. "It doesn't matter what she was. So what if she wasn't human? She was loving and kind to me" Yuko stood up and walked towards the outside doors of the shop, intending to let Watanuki rest.

"Very well." Yuko replied, sliding the door open. "Then I will tell you only this: The things she said before she disappeared were absolutely true." _I don't want to lose you, _were the unspoken words that Watanuki heard as well. More tears came and Watanukit threw her arms over her face, chuckling wetly.

"Of course, you'll make me pay for that by working for you more." She said.

"Oh absolutely." Yuko said, her voice returning to her seductive drawl. She walked out of the room and slid the door shut behind her. Watanuki was left alone with her tears and her grief.

"Will Watanuki be okay?" Maru ask as her mistress stepped out onto the porch.

"Tell us, will she?" Moro asked, standing next to her twin with Mokona on her head.

"She will okay, right?" Mokona asked.

"Don't worry, she'll be fine by tomorrow." Yuko answered. The smiles on their faces at the news were priceless. Maru and Moro hugged each other and then grabbed hands to jump around and Mokona hopped onto the floor to do a little dance of its own.

"She's going to be okay!~ She's going to be okay!~" The twins sang. Mokona jumped up into Yuko waiting hand.

"I think we should take it easy too." Yuko said to the furball. "I haven't taken a trip like that in a while and I'm spent."

"Me too!" Mokona agreed.

"Maru and Moro have to make the bed for the mistress!" Moro said to Maru, grapping the blue-haired girl's hand and skipping away.

"We need to prepare her a nightcap too!~" Maru replied. They laughed and then realized that they were right next to Watanuki's room and needed to be quiet so she could sleep. They shhhed each other, fingers over mouths and then started to tip toe away. "Watanuki is sleeping."

"Tip toe."

"Tip toe."

"Tip toe."

"Tip toe." They said back and forth as they tip toed around the corner.

"Good night." Yuko whispered to the closed door next to her. "And sweet dreams too." And then she too walked down the porch and disappeared around the corner.

"WAAAARRIIIIII!" A joyful yell called to the boy at school the next day. Wari turned around and looked down the hallway to see who it was.

"Hi, Watanuki!" He called back. Watanuki laughed and skipped down the hallway, practically shining as she carried her homemade bentos with her. "Looks like you feel better!"

"Yeah! I feel terrific!" Watanuki spun her skirt flying up behind her. "I made a special lunch today so let's eat together! Just you and me!~ The theme is 'spring' and the menu is going to be a surprise!"

"Sounds great!"

"Not as great as you are, Wari!" Watanuki spun again, smiling like an idiot.

"I can hardly wait for lunchtime!" Wari looked past the girl and saw Doumeki walk into the same hallway they were in and started walking in their direction. Watanuki noticed that the boy wasn't paying attention to her anymore and turned around to see what was up. Doumeki was walking towards them. He looked the same as he always did, but he didn't "oi" her like normal or make her mad or do anything. He just walked up to them, looking at the girl and saying nothing before walking right past the pair. Watanuki dropped her head, having agonized over her new choice all night about how she was going to treat Doumeki. Eight footsteps passed her before she said something, the noise of the school seeming to fade away with her words.

"Wait, Doumeki." She said. Three footsteps later he stopped, waiting for her to speak without turning around. He was prepared for most anything, screaming, ranting, denial, hate. He was ready for anything that she could throw at him, but she wasn't speaking. So he did turn, and looked at the girl and held back his desire to tell her that her skirt had flipped up somehow and that her panties were showing. Now was not the time for that. Besides, he might not get to see those panties anymore if she hated him, so he stayed quiet. He waited for the angry words and hurt expression that would be on her face. He waited for it. And it came. Kind of.

"You can come to lunch too, if you like. Wari and I can't eat all of this alone." Watanuki stuck her hands on her hips, pouting. She couldn't see it but Doumeki turned to her, his eyes wide in surprise, his mouth open in shock. She was inviting him to lunch, even after what he did to hurt her. She was offering a restart, an olive branch.

"Hmm." He said, smiling a little. "You got salmon rolls? I'll join you."

"HELL, NO!" Watanuki leapt right into his face and gave him a piece of her mind, just like she always did. Doumeki leaned back dramatically and plugged the ear closest to the girl. "WHAT DO YOU THING I'M RUNNING?! SOME KIND OF CATERING SERVICE?! It happens that I made tri-color rice balls today!"

"That's all you got?" Doumeki sighed, unplugging his ear and folding his arms. "Well, I guess I'll join you." He said begrudgingly, disappointed in the menu.

"You son of a-AHHHHH!" Watanuki's fangs popped out and she wiggled and flailed like a pro, still getting pissed at Doumeki. "Why do you have to say it like that!?" Wari laughed at them cheerfully.

"You too get along so well, don't you? You're the best of friends!" The curly-haired boy chuckled.

"This stiff is not my friend!" Watanuki screamed.

"Those rice balls better have some salmon in them." Doumeki added.

"I'm not your personal chef!" The girl retorted.

"What about sour plums?"

"NO! But there's still good!" She amended, still trying to please him for some reason.

"Whatever. Next time you'd better make inarizushi." Doumeki replied.

"Why do you always want inarizushi!?" Watanuki wailed.

"Guys, we'll be late for class." Wari said, grabbing their attention as he walked towards class.

"Whatever you say, Wari!~" Watanuki agreed. "Come on, jerkass!" Watanuki grabbed Doumeki's hand and dragged him towards their classroom. Doumeki let himself be dragged, looking down at Watanuki's skirt, which was still flipped up from her walking or spinning or flailing and he was enjoying the view.

"Purple today, huh?" He said. The girl flipped her head around to snap at him for saying things that didn't make sense when she saw him looking down…down towards her skirt. She blushed bright red at the thought of Doumeki looking at her panties again and threw down his hand to pull her skirt down.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SOMETHING SOONER?!" She howled, completely embarrassed, and in front of Wari too!

"Too cute." He replied, shrugging. Wari laughed at them and Watanuki cursed under her breath. She stalked off to class leaving both boys in her dust but they'd catch up soon enough, they always did.

Lunch went better than Watanuki expected, especially when Doumeki wasn't too impressed by her cooking today, but he had more than his share which made it better. She really did like sharing meals with those two, no matter how annoying Doumeki was or how hopeless she was with Wari. It was comforting to know that at least she could be with them for a little while. The rest of the school day passed without incident, as if the universe were giving the seer a break after her adventure with death the last few days and Watanuki was happy just to be a normal girl with normal problems for once. And at the end of school she said goodbye to Wari and Doumeki insisted on walking her to Yuko's shop, and so he did and she let him. Watanuki had something she wanted to say to Doumeki, so this was the perfect time too…the only problem was she didn't know how to approach the subject with him. And after a few minutes of walking down the street in silence, wrestling with her thoughts, she just decided to go for it. Doumeki had gotten a little ahead of her, noticing that the girl was lost in her thoughts but let her be all the same until she figured out what she was going to do.

"Hey, Doumeki." Watanuki called, going with the blunt version of her plan and catching up with her classmate.

"Hm?" The archer replied, slowing down his pace just a little. He gave the girl a sideways glance, hoisting his school bag over his shoulder.

"Remember that rain check you owe me?" Watanuki started, hoping he remembered that he owed _her_ a favor for one. "The one from the incident with Zashiki-Warishi?"

"Yeah." Doumeki was interested to see where this was going.

"I want to cash it in." Watanuki said, her voice all business-like but her face was starting to blush in embarrassment.

"Okay, so what do you want?" Doumeki stopped in his tracks, turning to face the girl. She stopped right next to him and glared the boy in the eye.

"I…I-I…" _Oh, god…I can't believe I'm saying this…after everything I've done to discourage this kind of thing…_ Watanuki shut her eyes and blushed deeper as she finished. "I-I want you to kiss me." Doumeki's eyes widened ever so slightly, showing the girl his surprise, but that was soon replaced by a small smile.

"Why?" He asked, wanting to know why she'd changed her mind.

"Well…" Watanuki still had her eyes screwed shut as she spoke. "I wanted to thank you for helping me not disappear, but I couldn't think of anything besides making you food because I always make you food and I remember that you liked kissing me – like after the hydrangea thing and when you stay over to dinner you try to kiss me – and I thought that you'd like it if I asked for one. As thanks." The girl finally took a breath after getting all of that out in one sentence and peeked one eyes open to see Doumeki's reaction. He was smiling at her! And it looked good on him too, better that stone face he usually had one.

"Okay." Doumeki said, touched by her admission.

Watanuki blushed even brighter as the archer leaned down to her face. He wasn't that much taller than her, but the time it took him to get down to her seemed like forever and Watanuki almost got cold feet but then his hand came up to her jaw bone and held her in place. She blinked quickly, her eyes trying to focus on his face when he was so close but then his lips were on hers. They were soft and warm and gentle as Doumeki kissed her, chastely pressing against her own. His hand came down from her face and wrapped around her along with his other arm, pulling her closer as they kissed. Watanuki, unsure of where to put her hands, left them on his chest where they'd been trapped, feeling his heartbeat under her fingertips. It was a nice kiss, not at all weird or perverted like Doumeki could be sometimes, and Watanuki found herself content just to say there in his arms for a little bit, but Doumeki was pulling away just a few moments later and she kind of felt bad that it had been so short.

"And now we're boyfriend and girlfriend." Doumeki stated. Watanuki's brain short circuited in response.

"I never said anything about you being my boyfriend! You're an ass, you know that?!" She yelled, untangling herself from his arms.

"That's no way to talk to your boyfriend."

"You are not my boyfriend and I am NOT your girlfriend!"

"That's not what it sounded like earlier. You said you wanted a kiss, so that meant that the attraction was mutual."

"Well, your ears are stuffed with cotton! I said I wanted a kiss, not-" Doumeki swept in and kissed her again.

"What was that for?!" Watanuki hissed, when her mouth was free.

"You said you wanted a kiss again."

"I-" Watanuki geared up for another retort when Doumeki put his finger over the girl's lips.

"Just shut up and be my girlfriend already." Doumeki's bluntness had the seer at a loss. She looked around for an escape, but couldn't find any (that and Doumeki's hand was still clamped to the back). And besides, they had been acting like a couple for quite some time now, what could it hurt if they actually became a couple?

"Fine. Since you're so insistent about it." She conceded.

"Then let me see your panties." The archer said, leaning down to grab the girl's skirt.

"NO!" Watanuki slapped his hand away and kept her hands on her skirt to hold it down. "PERVERT!"

"But we're dating now. Come on. Let me see." Doumeki teased her in his monotone, reaching for her skirt again.

"No! You already saw them today!" She shrieked, running down the street, trying to get away from him. Doumeki was hot on her heels, a smile shining in his eyes.

"I didn't get a good look."

"You shouldn't even be looking!" Watanuki ran faster when she saw him catching up but she couldn't out run Doumeki for long and he caught her in a hug once she was within arm's reach.

"You're funny." He said, kissing her neck once before she shoved her hand in his face and pushed, trying to pry herself out of his arms.

"Get off me! I am not funny!"

"Just shut up and let me hug you, girlfriend."

"Stop saying that!"

"What? Girlfriend?" He repeated.

"Yes! That!" She snapped.

"Girlfriend. Girlfriend. Girlfriend."

"Stop it!"

"Girlfriend."

"I said stop it!"

"I'll stop if you hold my hand." Doumeki offered. Watanuki's blush was back, self conscious at the thought of holding his hand in public, but if it got him to shut up then what the hell. Doumeki held out his hand and Watanuki hesitantly placed her hand on his. He closed his hand over hers, entangling their fingers and pulling her down the street once again on their way to Yuko's shop. A few cherry blossoms fell around them, swept up by the brisk breeze of a spring that was just starting to warm up, following two teenagers as one tried to peek at the other's panties and the other yelled in his ear for his efforts.

To be continued…

A/N: And there you go, they're finally dating! I LOVED writing this chapter because there was so much angst and so much room for conflict and relationship development. Very complex chapter, mmhmm. I'll see you all next time!

Note 1: Kayaku is a rice dish where the rice is boiled and then meat or fish is added into it.

Note 2: I've already kind of explained this one in several of my Valentine's and White Day fics but we'll do a quick over view again. On Valentine's in Japan, girls give boys chocolates, whether or not they're romantic chocolates/candies for a crush or boyfried, or obligation chocolates for friends/co-workers. On White Day, one month later, the boys return the favor by getting or making gifts for the girls they received chocolates from.


	14. The Invitation and The Mansion

A/N: ZareEraz here! I've got the next update for Addiction! Hooray! I'm taking a little interlude before I go to the second season and since the XxxHolic movie takes places in summer and I figured the end of season one is in spring and the beginning of season two is near the fall (since the characters have their jackets) I'd used the movies as a bridge of sorts to expand Doumeki's and Watanuki's relationship. I'm also skipping the 24th episode of season one because it mostly reiterates a lot of what I covered in the last chapter, so I'm not writing that one, sorry about that! :3 Now, enjoy and let me know what you think! Happy reading!

Interlude: A Midsummer Night's Dream Part 1 – The Invitation and The Mansion

It was hot, startling so, as Watanuki walked down the road, the streets echoing with the voices of children freed from the confines of school, their summer stretched out before them like tantalizing dreams just waiting to be fulfilled. Only…Watanuki didn't have any other that. The girl shlumped along, her head hanging down and bobbing with each step she took on the hot pavement, her school bag held limply in her hands. With sweat running down her neck and dribbling into the perfectly starched white shirt (if slightly droopy with the heat), the girl sighed, her head dropping even lower.

"And the school year's…over." She sighed, stopping in her walk on her way to Yuko's. She took a deep, frustrated breath in, her eyes screwing shut, her mouth pulling itself into a angry snarl as she snapped, "Would you just leave me alone already?!"

Unseen by everyone around her, there was a massive, eye-filled spirit pressing down on her neck and back, swarming its smelly, revolting and squirmy body all over her, the girl's ability to attract spirits drawing it towards her. Watanuki pushed against the tormentor, her hands coming up through part of its transparent body and as she struggled to throw it off of her. It didn't work and the girl felt herself having trouble breathing and moving, as if a pair of hands had come down on her shoulders and was weighing on her body heavily. In fact, there _was_ a pair of purple hands on her shoulders, squeezing tightly enough to almost bruise her skin. The raven's breath was coming short now, the press of spirit on her body forcing everything but the lack of air and the heat out of her conscious thought…that is…until it disappeared. The spirit lifted off the girl suddenly, pulling every icky feeling that it was carrying around with it away as well and Watanuki stumbled in the street as the spirit float up until she couldn't see. She stared, breathing heavily now that the weight was gone and shocked that it had left without her doing anything. It was gone!

"It went away!" She gasped gleefully…right before something solid smacked into her back and sent her spinning and falling down on her butt after she'd lost her footing. Watanuki had spun around to face whatever had bumped into and she spun and the girl got her best glare ready to chew out however had done it. Doumeki was staring down at her, his face set in his usual dead pan and the pair just looked at each other for a moment. Watanuki's glare turned into a snarl and a cross vein popped out on her forehead before the archer said anything.

"I didn't see you there, Watanuki." He stated. The girl was on her feet in an instant, her nails snagging his shirt collar and trying to strangle him.

"WHAT?!" Were your eyes closed?! You ran right into me, you moron!" Watanuki shouted, getting right in her boyfriend's face. It was astounding how much _nothing_ had changed between them. He still ticked her off like he always did and she blew up at him like she always did. They were not a normal couple by anyone's standards, in fact, they hardly seemed like a couple at all!

"You really shouldn't stand in the middle of the road," Doumeki replied. Watanuki's face dropped a little, seeing as he had a point, but it wasn't her fault! It was the spirit's! "You're in the way." And that next statement pissed her off again.

"You-!" She started, her fury getting in the way of her words. "My FIST is about to get in the way of your FACE!" And before she could come up with anymore violent threats, Watanuki's gaze locked onto a cute boy walking up the street behind Doumeki. It was Wari!~

"Watanuki! Doumeki!" Wari called, walking up to the pair, the boy's usual brilliant smile on his face. Doumeki's eyes slid to the side slowly as the boy walked up, making a sort of "why is this bastard here" sort of face if anyone had been looking at him. It's not that Wari was a bastard, but Doumeki had been interrupted while talking to his girlfriend who seemed way to attached to the curly-haired boy for someone who already had a significant other. And Doumeki liked Wari, he just didn't like Watanuki's attention being drawn away from him and they were all friends…it was an odd situation to say the least but the archer just went along with it. "Hey you guys!"

"It's my sweet Wari!~" And just like Doumeki knew was going to happen, Watanuki got that idiotic look on her face and scooped up her bag that had fallen on the ground, blushing like the school girls she was, before running up to the boy.

"So, summer vacation starts tomorrow…" Wari said, opening up a conversation.

"Yeah, but it's not much of a vacation. I have to work the whole time." Despite the happy look on her face, Watanuki's voice sounded very bitter and disappointed.

"Do you have any plans this summer, Doumeki?" Wari asked, looking at his classmate.

"Nothing interesting." He replied, but he was pointing at Watanuki where the girl couldn't see him and Wari's smile got a little more mischievous.

"Oh, I see." He said, his voice dropping a little and smoothing out. Wari had been the first person to find out about their relationship when Doumeki blurted it out calmly as Watanuki sputtered to explain why they'd been holding hands on the way to school (Watanuki had lost a bet), and to the girl's great disappointment (and relief) Wari didn't seem to have a problem with it at all. He was just so sweet and supportive it almost made their raven's heart burst! (Which is probably why she still had a little crush on the boy even though she was in a more rooted and serious relationship with Doumeki.) And in the girl's defense, they'd been dating since the spring which was a fairly long time, but Watanuki had had a crush on Wari for years, so it was going to take some time for her to get over it, or dump Doumeki and start trying to get Wari to like her like her again (which had never yielded any results in the first place). Either way, the girl still acted very much the same around Wari whether Doumeki liked it or not. And speaking of Watanuki…

"What about you Wari?" Watanuki asked. Doumeki swore if the girl had a tail it would be wagging ecstatically.

"Oh, nothing much. I'm staying with my aunt to help her with my little cousins during the Obon Festival. It'll be really fun but I'm going to miss seeing you every day, Watanuki."

"Mmm hmm." The girl nodded, her face collapsing into sadness. "I'll think about you every day while I'm working at my stupid job- "

"I won't miss you." Doumeki interjected.

"No one was talking to you!" Watanuki wailed, stuck somewhere between sorrow and annoyance. "Why don't you just go on ahead?! Wari and I would like a little privacy-" Doumeki raised an eyebrow at the statement, silently telling Watanuki that he would've been a bad boyfriend if he left her behind, but she didn't see that (or refused to, more like).

"Actually, I should probably get going." Wari said, derailing Watanuki's rant like he always did.

"Okay, we'll see you later." Doumeki said nonchalantly.

"Awwww…." Watanuki sighed, her face dropping again.

"You guys have a good summer!" Wari called, smiling as he walked away.

"You too!" Watanuki called, happy again as she waved goodbye and then she was back to depressed. "And there he goes, my sweet one, out of my life for a whole summer! I must be the only one in the whole school who doesn't look forward to summer vacation. This is a cruel and painful separation!" Okay, now she was just being dramatic.

"Are you sure you're not bipolar?" Doumeki asked, watching the girl's severe mood swings.

"Shut up!" Watanuki snapped, her mood changing yet again. Doumeki was done for the day, she was too much to handle sometimes.

"See you later." He said in goodbye.

"That's right! You go home alone!" The girl called after him as he walked away. "You don't understand my pain!" She wailed, flailing all over the place with her crazy arms and legs. As soon as Doumeki was out of sight Watanuki heard something behind her. She gaped in horror as the spirit from before swirled down from the sky towards her.

"Shit, its back!" Watanuki started running "These spooks stay away when Doumeki's around but sometimes it's not worth it!" The spirit finally got a hold of the wiggly girl again, wrapping itself around her body until she couldn't breathe again and just started stumbling down the street to the one other place where the spirits couldn't bother her. "It's a curse! It's a curse being the only one who can see and feel and be affected by spirits!" She rasped, shumpling her way down the street again. Twenty minutes later, she was finally close, almost to Yuko's shop…almost to freedom! But the damn spirit was still hanging onto her!

"Get off…get off…get off…get off…" She chanted trying to push at the partially solid body with no effect. "Get off! Get off! Getoffgetoffgetoffgetoffgetoffgetoffgetoffgetoffgetoffgetoffgetoff!"The girl swung her back around and around and around, faster and faster until the spirit pulled back just to get away from her craziness. And then she got so dizzy that she had to stop spinning and get her feet again, tripping this was and that before finding her balance and stood on shaky legs in the middle of the street. And that's when the spirit pounced, latching back onto her as people on either sidewalk avoided the crazy girl pushing at thin air. Watanuki ignored them, used to the stares by now and just pushed the spirit off of her enough to tromp the rest of the way to Yuko's, holding what felt like _tons_ of spirit on her back.

"Little…further…" She huffed and panted, straining under the spirit's presence, passing the girl office building that framed Yuko's shop, the trees of her property coming into view. She made it! The girl slapped both of her hands onto the fence, whatever barrier that Yuko had put up repelling the spirit and sent it packing with a last few grabs at Watanuki's clothes. The girl watched as it disappeared, grateful to an extent that Yuko was weird and had the power to set up such a barrier. The girl then picked up her school bag from where it had fallen and walked towards the shop.

Once inside the shop, Watanuki shut the door behind her, and found something out of place. The mail box door was open and there was a letter inside. Yuko hardly got mail – it's not like the mail man could just walk up to the shop, only people with wishes and desires that could be granted could see the shop at all, so letters were almost unheard of. But that also meant no junk mail to sort through, yay! It was intriguing, getting a letter and Watanuki reached into the mail cage to grab the envelope. It had a daffodil on the front of it and all it said was "Invitation," even when the girl looked on the back there was no name or address. And then something else grabbed the raven's attention: Maru and Moro were standing by the end of the _genkan_, wearing their respective, short, summer dresses, gesturing towards the hallway.

"The mistress has been waiting for you" They said, their voices in perfect sync.

"She needs me now?" Watanuki asked, taking off her shoes.

"Yes." The girls nodded.

Watanuki stepped into the shop proper and turned the corner, grabbing her apron before following the twins to Yuko receiving room and pulled back the moon-screen doors.

"Yay! Watanuki's back!" Mokona shouted gleefully, bouncing all over the room. Yuko was lying on her couch in her red and white rose kimono with the huge yellow bow in the front, her head turned away from the door with her hair cascading down onto the floor. There was a tipped over sake bottle next to her on the floor. "Haha! Watanuki's back! Hehe! Welcome home!" Watanuki ignored the pork bun as it zig and zagged around the room and watched Yuko. She didn't look to energetic.

"Yuko?" Watanuki said, leaning over the couch to try and look at the witch's face.

"Hello, Watanuki." Yuko said despondently, turning her head to look at the girl. "Sake." She ordered, her voice brisk and grumpy.

"HUH?!" Watanuki's mouth dropped to the floor.

"Sake!~" Maru chanted, raising a hand cheerfully.

"Sake!~" Moro repeated, raising a hand of her own before grabbing her sister's and skipping around.

"Sake!~" Mokona finished, jumping into the picture and then falling out of sight.

"Geez!" Watanuki stomped angrily. "It's only the middle of the day and you're already out of sake?!"

"I've run out of my favorite Junmai Daiginjo, be a dear and go get me some!" Yuko whined, turning over the lean her arms and head on the armrest of her couch, her eyes following the seer as she stomped over to the huge bottle and picked it up, waving it in the witch's face.

"Maybe you should learn to pace yourself once in a while!" Watanuki huffed. "Anyway, I'm going to have to special order this so it'll take a few days. I hope you can wait that long." The girl switched into "take care of Yuko's neediness" mode and got ready to work, setting the bottle upright on the floor and throwing her apron straps over her shoulders and tying it securely in the back. "Now, I'm here to serve you for the rest of the summer. Cooking, cleaning, gardening, which of these enjoyable tasks would you like me to start with?"

"All of them." Yuko replied smoothly, her Cheshire Cat grin on in full display.

"WAH! I can't do all that!" The girl shrieked, apparently starting a ache in Yuko's head. The woman sat up and leaned against the armrest, her free hand coming up to rub her pounding temple.

"Quit shouting, Watanuki, you'll give me a headache," she sighed. "Now isn't it true that I've granted your request. I've found a way of getting the spirits to leave you alone, isn't that right? You've been bothered by them a lot less lately haven't you?" Watanuki made a face and didn't answer. "And in exchange, you've agreed to do whatever work I need. This is the deal we made, wasn't it?" No answer again. Yuko smiled, knowing that she was always right. "Alright then, you can start today by tidying up my treasured storehouse." Watanuki's moody expression dropped even further. _She just had to pick the most horrifying and tedious tasks she could think of couldn't she? _

"All get right on it," Watanuki sighed. "Oh, I forgot!" The girl reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out that letter that had been in the mail box and handed it to her boss. "Here."Yuko took the letter and opened it, reading in silence while the girl watched her, curious to know what it said.

"Well, I must say that this letter seems to me more like a demand than an invitation." Yuko commented at last.

"Seriously? What does it say?" The girl asked. Yuko gave her "that look," the look that looked like she was a cat who'd just eaten a bird.

"You want to know?" She asked, twirling one finger around a section of her hair.

"No way!" Watanuki reconsidered, shaking her head. "You'd probably demand compensation for telling me. I'll just go clean." The girl rushed off to do her first chore of the day.

"My, my…they learn so quickly." Yuko chuckled, tucking the letter into her kimono. "But make me some snacks and tea first!" She shouted after the girl, earning her some choice curses referring to the witch's mother and several of her body parts before Watanuki calmed down again.

Snacks made, it was time to get to work. Watanuki went into the storehouse and dragged objects and vases and boxes and things she didn't even knew existed out onto the lawn where she'd set several blankets down on the ground. There was even a piano (which she had to move all by herself while Maru, Moro and Mokona all laughed at her)! Once everything was outside, The real cleaning could begin. Watanuki tightened her pony tail and wrapped a headscarf around her hair to keep it from getting too dirty and got to work slapping the dust out of the storehouse objects.

"Gross! When was the last time you dusted?!" She snarled at Yuko as the witch sipped her tea.

"Never." Yuko replied.

"Never!" Maru added.

"Never!" Moro finished.

"This is ridiculous!" Watanuki wailed and did an angry little dance. "You don't even need all this stuff! Why do you keep it!?" And then she went back to venting out her frustrations on the dust covering everything.

"In my line of work, one acquires many things. I never got around to throwing anything away and so it became…a collection of sorts. Besides, these things all pass onto other people eventually, remember?"

"There's no reason to hang onto all this stuff! You're a pack rat!" Watanuki's duster hit something round and black and the girl stopped to look at the odd thing. "Huh? What's this?" She tapped it again and the thing giggled!

"Hahaha! Hey, that tickles!" Mokona jumped out of the box it was hiding in and leapt up onto a vase. "You found me! Now close your eyes and I'm going to hide again!"

"No, you little rodent!" Watanuki swung her duster at the furball and missed when it jumped, landing on her face and trying to suffocate her.

"Geoff! Ian'teeth!" She tried to shout but the Mokona muffled her voice. Watanuki grabbed the thing and pulled as hard as she could but Mokona held on, pulling her face with it. Finally, with a pop, Mokona let go of the girl's face and flew across the yard as Watanuki collapsed on the ground. Mokona rolled and rolled down the cobblestones and came to rest next to the feet of a young woman, pretending to be a stuffed animal.

The woman was in a blue strappy dress, and her eyes looked very sad. She had short, brown hair and carried nothing else with her. She looked down at the Mokona and then looked at the shop as if she couldn't understand why such a thing was there. Watanuki had seen that look many times, and knew that this woman was here to see Yuko. The girl walked up and was about to greet the woman when she spoke first.

"Are you the one?" The customer asked.

"Huh?" Watanuki answered dumbly.

"They said if I came here, someone would help me."

"Oh, um…Yuko's the one you want to see." The raven explained, looking back at her employer.

"Watanuki, let's go inside." Yuko called, standing up gracefully and walking into the shop, trailing her kimono behind her. Watanuki led the woman inside and set both of them up in one of Yuko's rooms with a table and two chairs so she could set out tea. The women didn't talk as the girl prepared the tea or served it, but the customer watched the girl do everything, even following her hand as she set a teacup and saucer in front of her. Watanuki gave her a small smile.

"What is it?" The customer looked down at her hands in her lap.

"Is it true, what I heard?" She asked in a whisper-voice that seemed to be her normal voice. She was timid and shy it looked like. "Can Yuko really grant any wish? No matter what?"

"Yeah, she can." Watanuki nodded.

"What you've heard about me is true: I can grant any wish that you might have." And now that they'd gotten to the business part of things, Watanuki picked up her serving tray and left the room, fully expecting to go back and finish cleaning the storehouse, but was stopped by Maru and Moro who were eavesdropping. And so she stayed, leaving the door open a crack to listen in. "However, I always require suitable compensation for my services." Yuko continued, adding the catch that always got everyone.

"And there she goes," Watanuki said quietly, rolling her eyes. "Getting sucked in just like I did. She has a wish and now she's caught in the trap."

"Caught in a trap!" Maru repeated gleefully.

"Caught in a trap!" Moro repeated.

"You three!" Yuko snarled, pointing and glaring at her servants. Watanuki shot to her feet and tipped against the door, throwing her tray into the air for it to be caught by a giggling Moro as the seer sank to the floor.

"I'm willing to pay you anything you want." The customer woman said, ignoring the commotion of the three girls eavesdropping. And then she was smiling. "I'm so relieved. When I first heard about you I didn't think it could be true, I didn't believe the man who first told me about your shop. I wasn't going to come, but then I happened to pass by and thought I'd take a look."

"I don't believe in happenstance or coincidence," Yuko started, repeating the same mantra that Watanuki had burned into her soul at this point. "You didn't just 'happen' to pass by – your coming here was inevitable, whether you know it or not. Similarly, it is inevitable that I grant your wish and so I shall. Is that understood? Tell me your wish."

"This is going to sound strange…I left my house a long time ago and when I came back I couldn't get inside." The woman sounded a little frantic and confused. "I have my key and everything!" She took out a golden key with a Celtic knot sort of decoration on the top, twisted into four loops, like a clover, and the cuts in the key didn't look normal, like they'd fit better in a complicated puzzle box than on a key. Watanuki leaned around Yuko's head to study it, intrigued by what kind of house would have this strange key attached to it. "Oh, please…please help! I need to go home!"

And before the girl knew what was going one, she got roped into more trouble. Yuko agreed to grant the woman's wish and by the end of the day, the storehouse was cleaned and packed away and Yuko and Watanuki were packed for their trip. They were at the house the woman had talked about by mid-afternoon the following day, staring at the corroding gate with the same symbol on it as the key had. The mansion behind the gate was huge and…kind of ugly, in Watanuki's opinion. It wasn't normal and looked like several styles of architechture had been slapped together by a crazed madman just for fun. One part was eastern style, tower looked like a Gothic cathedral, another looked like part of the Taj Mahal, the front level looked like a French chateau…it didn't fit at all. The only thing normal about the house was the huge front lawn.

"Well, this seems to be the right place." Yuko stated, pushing open the gate and walking inside. Watanuki followed her in, slyly thinking that Yuko looked just as gaudy as the house, dressed in a dress somewhere between maroon, fushia magenta and violet with dangerously high slits in the skirt and a huge choker necklace made up of rectangle chunks of purple-blue stones that crawled up her neck. _As least Yuko can make gaudy look sexy. _Watanuki thought as she stared at the foreboding mansion. Watanuki on her side, was wearing her school uniform, grey jacket and all, just like normal. "We found the girl's house, now all we have to do is get in."

"Wow! That house is so huge!" Mokona cried, popping out of Watanuki's tote bag (which mostly had Yuko's stuff in it).

"It certainly is, and the architecture is quite fine."

"It doesn't strike you as a bit ominous?" Watanuki said warily, still eyeing the house. And then she remembered the other questions she'd had throughout this entire trip, "I've been meaning to ask you something…what is Doumeki doing here?" Watanuki flipped her head around to glare at her boyfriend.

"Yo." Doumeki said, lifting his hand up as if to wave. Watanuki growled.

"Why?" Yuko asked, her voice turning seductive as he gloved hand came up to slide one of the dress straps off her shoulder. "Were you thinking that it would be just you and me?" She finished with a mischievous grin. Watanuki blushed at the innuendo (and at the mere suggestion that she'd get sexual with _Yuko_ of all people!) and recoiled.

"You know that's not what I meant!" She shouted, her voice echoing off the mountains around them. "GEEEAHAAAAHAH!"

"Oh, well." Yuko grinning, replacing her strap. "Maybe you could do that with Doumeki." Watanuki's brain short circuited, ceasing all body functions except the furious blush crawling up her neck and face. _Me…and Doumeki…doing…GAH! No fucking way! We aren't ready for that. Are we? No! I'm not doing it with Doumeki! And even if I was I wouldn't do it in a place like this!_ She was standing there so long that Yuko and Doumeki started walking up the path to the house without her.

"Hey! Wait up!" She yelled as noticed she was being left behind.

"You'll have to come faster if you want to catch up." Doumeki replied, a small smile on his lips. It sounded like an innocent enough comment, but now that Watanuki's mind was in the gutter, everything he started saying seemingly had a dirty double meaning. And it ticked her off. Watanuki growled again, holding up a furious fist.

"One day I'm just going to nail you for that annoying attitude of yours!" She snarled.

"I think he hopes you do." Yuko replied flirtatiously.

"Yuko! That's not at all what I meant!" The seer was blushing again and now she realized that they weren't going to give her a break on this one. The girl slumped down, her walk turning into a trudge. "This is why you should've invited Wari…" She whined.

"Speaking of invitations," Yuko interrupted the girl's pity party and got back to business. "I found it rather odd that I was invited to this mansion on the same day that we found out the owner couldn't enter it. Interesting, don't you think?"

"Actually I find it pretty freaky!" Watanuki retorted.

"Just like you are in the bedro-" Doumeki started.

"Shut up!" Watanuki cut him off.

"Oh, and to answer your question," Yuko continued, ignoring both of them, "I invited Doumeki along to keep you company."

"Hopefully not the wrong sort," Watanuki grumbled.

"See, you do it too." Doumeki pointed out.

"Fuck off!"

"I can't do that right now."

"I know you hate to be alone," Yuko teased, smiling at the pair.

"I'm perfectly fine being alone with myself!" Watanuki huffed, crossing her arms.

"That's what she said." Doumeki interjected.

"Now you're just being juvenile!" Watanuki snapped. Yuko ignored them again and continued talking.

"Of course, you'll need to compensate him for his help and express your gratitude." The witch finished.

"We could do-" Doumeki started in again.

"NO!" Watanuki shouted so loud that Doumeki had to plug his ears or risk losing his hearing. "I'm not doing it!" And that's when Watanuki realized that without realizing it, she'd made her third innuendo without thinking.

"Well, we'll see about that." Yuko looked back at the girl and smiled. Watanuki paled but before they had time to make the girl even more uncomfortable, they arrived at the door.

Yuko took the door knocker in her hand and tapped it a few times. A few moments passed and then the door swung open without anyone pulling on it. Watanuki stared in horror but Yuko and Doumeki both started walking to the door like nothing was wrong.

"What the-!?" The girl gaped.

"What's wrong?" Doumeki asked, turning to look at his girlfriend.

"That woman we talked to earlier said she couldn't get into her own house so how is it that we can walk right in?" Watanuki was shocked that they weren't thinking this was weird at all!

"Interesting." Doumeki replied.

"No, it's frightening! We didn't even use a key!"

"So the house doesn't recognize its owner, but it recognizes guests just fine," Yuko mused. "Very hospitable when you think about it." And then she and Doumeki both walked inside.

"Wait!" Watanuki yelped, taking a step after them, severely creeped out. A creaking noise startled the girl and she flipped around to see what it was. It was a single-seat chair swing hung up on a tree branch, the wind rocking it back and forth, causing the creaking. The chair itself was made up of twisting metal formed into swirls that would've been pretty if the house hadn't given Watanuki the shivers. She hurried inside after her companions, the door shutting all by itself.

Inside the house was just as strange as the outside. The front room was designed in an octagon shape with four staircases that led to balconies that led to the other staircases in a looping pattern. In between each of the staircases on the other four walls were doors and stain glass windows rose above them. The floor was mosaic tiles and there was a single small table in the middle of the room. It had a note on it, one Yuko picked up and opened while Doumeki and Watanuki were still staring around the dimly lit room.

"'Welcome and thank you for coming.'" She read out loud. "'Please proceed down the hallway directly in front of you.'" The witch looked up and found that the door in front of her was, in fact, open and ajar. "I guess we go straight then." She smiled and started striding towards the door singing, "Is anybody home?"

"Hey! Hold on a second!" Watanuki yelped, watching Yuko and Doumeki both follow the note's instructions without a second thought. "This is weird!" But in the end, she ran after them, not wanting to be left in the creepy house by herself. They entered into a really long hallway, one that seemed to be made of some kind of rock, maybe granite, because the walls were a mix of marbled while and gray with little alcoves holding flower vases and was lit by bluebell shaped lamps. Watanuki caught up to Doumeki and Yuko, still trying to voice her fears. "Am I the only one who's freaked out here?! Is it just me or did you notice that the door opened all on its own just a minute ago!?" The girl pointed back at the door but neither of them were looking.

"Don't get so worked up." Yuko replied, still calm and unaffected.

"Worked up?! Why would I be worked up? This is all completely normal!" She replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I'm glad you see it my way, Watanuki." The girl could hear the smile in her voice and knew that she was fighting a losing battle.

"Yuko!" She growled. "Doumeki," She said turning to the only other person she could, "Would you say something to her!?"

"You'll give yourself gray hair if you worry too much." He replied. Apparently that was a losing battle too.

"That's not helping!" They came to the end of the hallway, a single door waiting at the end with another small table and another note resting on top of it. Yuko grabbed the note again and read it out loud.

"'Please open the door and enter.'" She set the note down as Doumeki reached for the door handle and pulled. There was nothing behind the door, just a black wall of stone.

"A wall." Watanuki stated, giving Yuko sarcastic eyes as she pointed at the obstruction. "Oh, shoot. I guess we have to go back." _Yay! We get to leave this creepy place! _

"Why don't you try opening it?" Yuko said slyly.

"Me?" Watanuki pointed at herself. What could it hurt? There was obviously no other exit than where they'd come from so she could amuse Yuko. "Okay." Watanuki gently pushed Doumeki out of the way and shut the door, immediately pulling it open again. When the door opened, the wall was gone, replaced by a parlor looking room full of tables, chairs, couches, drinks and people chatting. _Damn! Why did that happen!? _

The room had a dark wood floor and ceiling and the walls were a beige-ish, tan-ish color and was decorated with green cushioned chairs and couches and wooden tables. There was a fireplace in one corner with a picture of the mansion hanging above it and on the other walls there were windows. The windows didn't face outside but instead showed the inside of the house apparently, which was odd in and of itself. Who designed a house to have windows on the inside?

Watanuki look a look at the people in the room. There were seven of them: a porky, older man in a suit that was sitting at a table with a skinny guy in glasses and a kimono, a tall blonde woman in an orange dress, a tan-skinned man in a frilly purple shirt, a short, unattractive woman in a pink dress, a skinny old man with white hair wearing a blue robe over a white long-sleeved article of clothing all at another table and a laid back, scruffy-looking guy in a red jacket lounging on a couch by himself. And they were all talking.

"It was chilling to think he would pass off a piece to me…" Said the porky man in the suit.

"And that piece that I got last year leaves me just short of completing my collection." The tan in the purple frilly shirt said to his companions.

"And how's your collection coming along?" The blonde woman asked the woman in the pink dress. She had to swallow all the food she'd stuffed into her mouth before answering.

"Oh, it's coming along find. It should be finished soon." And that's when Watanuki realized that all these people were similar and her and Yuko and Doumeki did not fit into the rest of the group.

"What are we doing here? You realize that we don't collect anything, right?" She turned to Yuko but the witch looked unconcerned, shutting the door behind them and then folding her arms demurely.

"Why don't we just go talk to them? It never hurts to make new friends." Yuko replied walking past the girl.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" And then she was pushed into the room by Doumeki who just walked into her without saying a word and shoved her along. Refusing to make a ruckus and be labeled the weird one right off the bat, Watanuki vowed to make him pay for it later.

"So, tell me about this collection of yours." The old man in the suit asked the skinny man in the kimono and glasses. "Have you been working on it very long now? Is it close to being complete?"

"I'd rather not say." The kimono man replied, brushing some of his brown hair out of his face. "I'm working on a rather difficult acquisition right now, you see."

"Looks like we have some new comers with us." The old man said, noting Yuko walking up to the booze table next to theirs that was filled with glasses and bottles of champagne and sake. "And I'm sure I've never seen this lovely face before. What's your name, little girl?" Yuko picked up a flute of champagne before turning to answer.

"You can call me Yuko." She stated, but Watanuki knew that that name was a lie, but she was never going to drag Yuko's real name out of her. "And I'm no little girl, old man."

"I like a girl with spunk!" He laughed. "So, tell us what it is you collect, Ms. Yuko." Yuko took a sip of her drink in response. The old man scooted over to the end of the couch, getting closer to the woman to have a conversation. "I can only assume that you've been invited because you are a serious collector. Everyone here has a well known collection." He nodded to the others at the opposite table. "Many of us convene regularly to compare notes and such. Surely we're all here in response to the same invitation." The old man reached into his suit pocket and pulled out the same invitation that Yuko had received. "Read!" He offered. Yuko took the note around the time that Watanuki walked over and they both leaned over to read it, which Watanuki did out loud.

"'You're collection is not yet complete. If you wish to complete it as any true collector does, please accept this invitation to a gathering at my home.'"

"Imagine the nerve! Insinuating that we weren't true collectors!" The old man started again. "Naturally, we felt compelled to come here and set this man straight. And if doing so adds to my collection, well I won't complain." He seemed all smug as he was talking and it really rubbed Watanuki the wrong way. Doumeki on the other hand, wasn't even a bit worried as he listened into the conversation, just looking at the painting of the mansion and eating the hors d'oeuvers. "Now what is it you said you collected?" _Geez, this guy really wants to know! How nosey can you get? _Watanuki looked at Yuko and expected her to tell him about her storehouse, that seemed to be the only thing that she collected (besides hapless, ignorant slaves that didn't understand how she operated when they made their deal in the first place), but Yuko said nothing, so Watanuki started panicking, thinking that if the collectors found out that they didn't collect anything that they'd mock them right out of the mansion, (which would've been great because she wanted to leave, but Yuko wasn't having it). So Watanuki came to her rescue when Mokona popped out of the tote bag unexpectedly, first causing the girl to try and hide it, but then the furball gave her an idea.

"Well…she…" She started. "Yuko collects stuffed animals. See? This is one of them." The girl held up a toy-like Mokona for them to see. A moment of quiet passed before the old man and the skinny guy burst out into laughter, and not the good kind.

"What an embarrassingly common collection." The kimono guy with glasses commented, his smile icky. "Everyone knows a truly expert collection is judged by its uniqueness."

"And what is it that you collect, boy?" The old man called to Doumeki, who was still staring at the painting.

"Old stamps." He said immediately, not even batting an eye. The laughter continued, louder and meaner this time.

"That's even more boring than hers!" The old man mocked. "And what about the girl there?" He pointed to Watanuki. Now she had to do some more quick thinking and save her own butt!

"Well…its…" The seer thought on her feet, looking around for inspiration until she remembered a paper that she had in her pocket. She grabbed the booklet and opened it up, displaying her nearly full booklet that kept track of the purchases she'd made at the store. "Supermarket points."

"AHAHAHAHAHA! Supermarket points!" The laugher was definitely mean this time, they couldn't even catch their breath they were laughing so hard. "Who invited them?!" Watanuki blushed. She felt silly after saying that, all their made up collections seemingly pointless and trivial, but those supermarket points were really the only things she collected besides unwanted trouble and annoying pests. Watanuki glared at Doumeki from the corner of her eyes, staring down the one pest that wouldn't leave her no matter what.

"Huh?" He said, looking up with his mouth full of food.

"Oh, forget it! What are you looking at?" Watanuki tucked her booklet away again and walked over to her boyfriend, looking up at the painting he was observing. "Nice painting. Looks like a party at the mansion." Watanuki stood next to Doumeki as her eyes flitted around all the people in the painting. Some were standing, some lying down, some of them were really close to the observer and others were almost hidden by the porch. "Looks like fun." She commented, not really caring.

Doumeki's eyes narrowed on the painting, not having the same opinion as Watanuki. He was looking at the faces of the people in the painting, noticing that all of them weren't happy in the least. One man was frowning, another had a grimace on his face, another was angry, and a woman had a fake smile slapped on her lips. It was unsettling actually, how strained the tension was in the mood of the painting. Doumeki was about to say so when he noticed that Watanuki wasn't looking at the painting anymore, instead, she was listening to the lady in the pink dress with the white collar.

"I wonder how the owner of this house knew who we were and how to contact us." She started, her hands gesturing to the people around her. "Very strange. We've never even met him and out of the blue we get this cryptic invitation to a place we've never been."

"I don't understand it either." The tan man in the frilly purple shirt shrugged.

"Do you know what's going on?" The pink dress lady asked Yuko. She shook her head in response. "I just wish I knew what to expect."

"Listen to all of you!" The man on the couch by himself, the one in the red jacket, started talking. "If you ask me, the strangest thing is that you all showed up here to some random guy's house just because he sent you a little note." There was a pause as the rest of the guests considered the red jacket man's situation as well.

"Well, you showed up too." Purple Shirt stated, his voice a little miffed.

"Correction, my friend," Red Jacket started again, taking a sip out of his tumbler, "I'm just here for the entertainment. But if the owner of the mansion does show his face, he insulted my collection, we'll have a chat."

"Oh, my." Pink Dress sniffed.

"Don't pay any attention to him." Purple Shirt waved off Red Jacket. "Everyone here is an outstanding collector! That's certainly why we were invited here tonight. Why, when I think of the company I'm in, I'm nearly breathless in admiration!"

"Oh now, you're just saying that!" Pink Dress waved him off, but she was smiling nonetheless.

"At least there's one gentleman here." The blonde lady with the white and orange dress smiled. The white haired man in the blue and white robes at their table nodded as well. _Blue Robe, Pink Dress, Blondie and Purple Shirt all seem to get along, _Watanuki commented in her head.

"Nonsense! I'm merely stating the obvious!" Purple Shirt replied.

"We could say the same to you," Pink Dress said.

"Oh, stop it! I'm blushing!" Purple Shirt said back.

"No, really!" Blondie added.

"I agree," Blue Robe continued.

"Bunch of friggin idiots," Red Jacket muttered under his breath.

It was at this point that Watanuki started to lose all sense of the conversations around her as the collectors started all speaking and flattering themselves and each other all at once. The seer looked around the tried to make sense of everything, but a black haze had permeated the room, coating everything in sight and making it hard to see anyone clearly. The collector's faces had morphed into strange shapes, Kimono Man's lengthening into one that looked like a rat, and the Old Suit Man's face resembled a pig's. Blondie's eyes bugged out, Pink Dress was coughing up what seemed to be like smoke, Blue Robe looked liked he'd aged a million years, Purple Shirt's mouth was twisting and had fangs now, his tongue lolling out of his mouth and Red Jacket's jaw was lengthening and pinching.

"Uh, what's that smell?" Watanuki nearly choked as the scent of rotten food, spoiled eggs and excrement assaulted her nose. She clapped her hand over her face and pinched her nose shut, blearily looking around the room again. The collector's faces had deformed even more, making them seem like abstract painting material that was giving the girl a head ache.

"You're seeing something again, aren't you?" Yuko said through the rising noise of the collector's chatter. She was the only one who still looked normal. Well, her and Doumeki.

"Yeah, I've never seen anything like this before!" Spirits always looked wonky when they were pushing their influence onto her, but humans? No, she'd never seen normal people do this before. "It's like some sort of haze!"

"What you're seeing is their greed, vanity and pride. The collectors are so full of all of these things it's making you sick." And it was only getting worse and worse. Watanuki could hardly breathe anymore, much less see anything in the room very well, including the little girl peeking inside the windows at the gathering.

"What's wrong?" Doumeki asked, seeing the girl start to waver on her feet, hand covering her mouth. Watanuki looked at Doumeki, seeing that he was all distorted too, but only because of the collectors influence. But he was still stuffing his face with snacks that it almost made Watanuki vomit just to watch him. _He really can't smell this?! _

"You don't see it?" She choked out, regretting it when she inhaled some of the haze and stench.

"Uh, no." He replied, and then shoved more food into his mouth. He probably didn't look as disgusting as Watanuki was seeing him right now, but her stomach roiled anyway and she needed to get out before she lost her cookies on the floor and embarrassed herself further.

"I can' take this anymore!" She moaned, looking around in the haze as best she could to see if there was another exit or a restroom nearby, where she could quietly throw up in peace. The girl spotted a sign with a hand pointing to the left that said "Restroom," indicating that a restroom was outside the only other door in the room. The girl stumbled over too it and opened the door, leaving the gathering and the only people she knew and wandered into the strange mansion.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

The hallway outside the parlor was dimly lit, and Watanuki couldn't even find a light source that lit the hallway anywhere she looked, so she just stumbled down the hall, hand still over her mouth to keep her vomit inside her body until she had a sink to lean over. She kept following the signs on the walls, but things got a little weird as she kept walking. First, it was only one sign per wall panel, but then they multiplied by two and then three and then all of a sudden there were restroom signs all over the walls, ceiling and the floor. Watanuki followed them, no matter how strange they were, looking around at all of them and twirling to see the ones on the ceiling too until she came to the end of the hallway which turned right. The "Restroom" sign pointed to the right, so she turned right. The girl got about ten feet down the hallway until she ran into a wooden staircase that ran up into the ceiling…and then stopped. There was no place to go except back. The raven stood there for a moment, wondering what she should do.

"This can't be right." Watanuki's eyebrows furrowed, her hand dropping from her mouth, her nausea forgotten. She couldn't go anywhere. What was the point of dragging her this way if the hallway and the stairs were a dead end? Right before she was about to turn around and stop back, the panels on the front of each stair step started spinning, showing writing that hadn't been there before. The kanji kept changing as the panels spun, the whooshing noise accompanying it getting faster and faster until it stopped, all the stair panels reading, "The restroom is under the stairs." Watanuki looked at the writing for a few seconds, trying to riddle out why the hell someone would put a restroom under the stairs, but decided that she didn't much care anymore. The girl looked to the side and saw another "Restroom" sign and stuck her head around the stairs. There was a gap on the left side, just enough room to squeeze past. Watanuki tried to shove herself in the gap face-forward and then realized that she should've gone in sideways, her shoulders filling up the space just perfectly so she had to wriggle and squirm for a few moments before struggling free, falling flat on her face when she popped out of her squeeze.

"GAH!" She yelped, rolling onto her back and clutching her mashed nose. Thankfully her glasses hadn't broken as pain flared across her skull, but then as she was moaning, she found a small door tucked under the stairs on the ground. It was just about the size of a child's playhouse type of door and hand a flower carved into the center of a circle that split the opening. Watanuki grabbed a handle in each hand and pulled the little door open, ducking her head down into the passageway below to see what a door could be doing in such an odd place. It was a small crawl space that was lined with tatami mats on the floor and the girl spun herself around from the dead end part of the hallway to see how far it went. Pretty dang far – she couldn't even see the end!

"Do I have to do all of this just to get to a restroom?!" She grumbled, dropping herself down carefully and wriggling the rest of her body into the passage so she was lying on her stomach. And then the little door above her slammed shut without her doing anything.

The fear of being trapped in such a small space had the girl panicked, scrambling to flip herself around and get out of the doors causing her to try and fold her upper body under herself and hook her left arm behind her head and twist her legs the wrong was until she was so stuck that her back popped painfully, tears springing to her eyes. Watanuki sobbed for a minute before slowly, gingerly and carefully untangling herself until she was faced forward again. And then she commando crawled in a huff down the tight passageway, her back still pinging tenderly from her contortion. She crawled for a few minutes, leaving the little door far behind, glaring into the darkness of the hall until she came upon another sign. The passage extended further on, but this hanging sign pointed downwards…towards the tatami mats. Watanuki gave the sign a skeptical look and smacked both of her hands down on the ground, trying to see if there was a trap door or something right there. Nothing moved, but she could swear she heard the sound of the wind. The seer leaned down and put her ear to the floor, listening and then moving a little to the left as the sound got slightly louder in that direction. Suddenly, the floor she was on tipped to the left, dumping the yelping girl out of the hallway like a revolving door and closing shut again, leaving her in a room that seemed to be made up of tatami mats fitted together perfectly. The girl groaned, her sore back complaining from behind abused again and sat up, looking around at the walls and ceiling of the perfectly square room. It looked as if there were no exits, but the girl could still hear the sound of the wind coming from somewhere.

"Huh?" She said, to no one in particular, looking behind her. One of the walls was different than the others. Five of the six walls didn't have a square mat in the middle of it, they were in the corners, but the walls behind Watanuki had that square in the center, and the noise of the wind seemed to be coming from it. The girl stood up, eyeing the mat once before staking a few steps back and performing a running karate kick, taking out the mat to reveal a tiny doorway out. The girl crawled out of the mat room and looked around, finding herself in a door that resembled a Japanese shrine, the two candles lighting the room flickering. Watanuki looked around and found no other rooms than the one she was in and shrugged, walking up to the door and sliding it open. It was raining outside the little shrine, the girl somehow having gone to the top of the mansion while only going down hallways. It didn't really matter to her, so she just walked down the long staircase that passed two floors of balconies, all covered in sutras and papers with charms written on them. Past the first floor, the stairs ended up inside the house again, the second floor covered by the floor of the level above it. Watanuki was a little wet from her short walked, but she was starting to dry off already.

The room she was in now looked like an unfinished cathedral catwalk, the wood paneling floor missing planks on one side. The beams holding up the walls and ceiling all criss-crossed like a wine bottle holder. Watanuki also observed a few miniature shrines holding old looking Japanese kokeshi dolls, the wood figures' paint and faces fading as she made her way towards the door at the end of the catwalk. She opened the door and walked into the next room. This room looked like the outside of an old Japanese town, all the rooms lit up behind their paper screens and sliding doors with hallways splitting off in several directions. The catwalk she was on now was suspended over dozens of floors and it veered to the right before straightening out again. The girl looked down, finding plates displaced in alcoves with kanji scrolls that extended below her, all lit up and sitting next to black and red checkered doors that might lead somewhere and might lead nowhere. She kept walking, a feeling of uneasiness falling over here. She looked around, feeling like she was being watched, her spine tingling with trepidation.

"It seems like…someone's watching me…" She said, once again, to no one in particular. The next room she entered had only stone catwalks that looked like the Paris catacombs, the cathedral stain glass window that Watanuki had seen outside lit up on her right hand side. The next room had only three walk ways that formed and image that looked like the Pisces zodiac symbol, the spaces outside the walkways filled with water and hydrangea plants. The next room had red sitting cushions placed around various well-looking ponds holding exotic fish, but they extended underground so far that Watanuki couldn't see the end through the darkness. She leaned over one of the ponds, counting the fish she could see, completely forgetting about why she'd come down here. The feeling of being watched hadn't faded, but she was content to count fish for a moment.

"Five…six…seven…eight…" The girl straightened up, thinking hard about why she was counting fish. She hadn't come down here to count fish…had she? "Huh…I can't remember why I came down here…oh, yeah! That's right!" The girl dashed out of the fish room and into a hallway , which thankfully held the bathrooms. The doors were very modern for the house, especially since most of the rooms Watanuki had been in looked ancient or old fashioned. The ladies' room had a red door with a single bar for a handle that tipped to the left and the men's room was blue and had a handle that tipped to the right, each door having a little man symbol or a woman symbol on them. Watanuki opened the door to the ladies room and ran to the sink, leaning over it to throw up the disgusting feels from the parlor room that she'd forgotten about and had been holding in this entire time.

Once her stomach was empty, she went to the restroom for good measure and washed her hands afterwards, the dim red lighting of the room turning her hands pink under the water. She hadn't noticed it when she walked in but all the lights in the room where either little square ones built into the wall or they were long bars that made diamond shapes on the ceiling, which was interesting in its own right. The girl finished up washing her hands and looked at herself in the mirror, sighing at her haggard appearance. Throwing up was never fun. Just as she was about to dry her hands and leave, something fell on her head and she jumped in surprise.

"Huh?" The girl saw that a note had fallen from the ceiling, probably from the air vent above her head and it had landed on the counter. Watanuki wiped her hands and picked up the note, opening it to read what was inside. "'Dinner is served in the main dining room. The others have already been seated and your immediate presence is requested.'" There was also a map of the building that would come in handy when the seer headed back to the dining hall. The girl looked up at the vent, seeing if someone was in there but it was too dark to see. But one thing had been confirmed. "I was right," She looked around suspiciously, "Someone is watching me."

But despite her trepidation, Watanuki needed to get back to Doumeki and Yuko…and she was hungry, her stomach punctuating this by growling as she stepped out into the hallway. Watanuki followed the map as best she could, the strange construction of the house making it difficult to follow and she did pass through rooms she hadn't been in on her way here, but others she recognized. The whole time she was walking, Watanuki felt a pair of eyes on her, fear prickling up her spine ever so slowly as she continued on. By the time the feeling of being watched because unbearable, Watanuki was almost to the dining room, walking down a hall with paper screened windows on her left, lit up by something on the other side, and actual bamboo stalks lined up against the wall on her right. The lighting of the windows threw weird contrasts across the floor wall, dimming the far ends of the passage, but leaving the section that she was walking through fairly lighted. It was creepy, not being able to clearly see where you were going. Watauki stopped, her hand gripping her note tightly as she thought she'd heard something in front of her. Her heart leapt into her throat, as disembodied sobbing quietly floated down the hallway.

"W-who's there?" She asked, stuttering in dread.

The sobbing continued, echoing in the hallway, getting louder and louder with each passing second, and then it started coming from behind the girl too, and now she had no clue which way she should run should something come at her. Then the floors started to creak as if someone where walking on them, but she was standing still! Watanuki jumped, her dread turning into terror and panic, like a horse ready to bolt at the slightest danger but not before the threat showed itself. Then floors creaked again, the walls moaned and the sobbing got louder still, the noises created a disjointed symphony that had the girl sweating. _Where is it?! I'd rather see the thing than listen to it! _Watanuki was just about ready to run, her eyes wide in terror, when suddenly, all the creaking and moaning and sobbing faded away unexpectedly. The raven swiveled around looking in all directions to see if something was going to show up, or if the episode was over. She was looking at the paper windows now, getting ready to steel her nerves and finish walking down this creepy hallway when a giant silhouette appeared on the other side of the windows and smacked its hands against the screens, screaming loudly enough to wake the dead, its hair or tentacles or whatever was coming out of its head billowing in an invisible wind. And then it started pushing through the windows, its face morphing to the other side, mouth gaping and eyes vacant like a creepy Noh mask without paint. Watanuki screamed, utterly terrified and bolted, sprinting down the hallway, across the Paris catacomb room, through the first hallways, all the while screaming her lungs out and flailing in her desperate attempt to get away. She didn't even have Doumeki to ward off whatever it was this time! Her luck really sucked and she was probably going to die if she got caught and she didn't want to die so she kept running and screaming and nearly crying until she burst through a door, tripping over her clumsy feet, fell on her face, flipped to her butt, rolled out of control across the floor and skid her a halt, her everything on her body aching and throbbing in pain.

When the girl finally looked up, she was in the dining room, everyone sitting and eating at the hugest table the girl had ever seen, a decadent meal sitting on top of the pristine, white table cloth. On the left side, starting from the furthest seat away, Red Jacket, Pink Dress, Kimono Man, Old Suit Man and Purple Shirt were stuffing their faces inelegantly, and one the right side, Blondie, Blue Robe, Doumeki and Yuko had much better table manners as they ate (but only marginally in the cases of Blondie and Blue Robe). There was even an empty seat for Watanuki, her place held between Doumeki and Yuko by the tote bag she carried around that had Mokona in it.

"Oh, Watanuki." Yuko greeted the girl, pausing in her meal. "Why don't you come sit down?" Watanuki, completely ignoring the meal not matter how hungry she was, dashed up to the table and cowered behind it, pointing down the hallway she'd just been in, her breath still hitched and voice panicked.

"Listen to me!" She gasped out. "There's something really strange going on in this place!" And then she realized that that sentence was exactly what she'd been saying the whole time they'd been in the mansion, and just like always, Yuko didn't seem to care.

"You don't say?" She said, disinterested. "You should try this; it's delicious." Yuko cut into whatever meat was on her plate and took a bite. Watanuki, still flustered, did as she was told because she couldn't think of anything else to do but her brain kept going back to the strange things in the house and she asked rapid fire questions, hoping to get a logical answer out of _somebody_ to help calm her down.

"Where did all this food come from?!" The girl babbled, pulling her chair out and sitting down in it, kicking Mokona's bag out of her seat. Doumeki peeked over at her girlfriend, noting that Watanuki's skirt had gotten folded up in her spectacular tumble and he could totally see her purple lacey panties. And she sat down without fixing her skirt, that's how frazzled she was. "Who man it?! Who set the table?! We haven't seen anyone who lives here!" And now her babbling was getting annoying.

"Just let it go." Doumeki said, still peeking at her panties. Watanuki wheeled on him, growling at her interrupted her rant.

"You don't have to eat it if you don't want it." Yuko said, referring to the food Watanuki was suspicious about. Actually, she was suspicious about everything of course, but the second she looked down at the delicious looking food (a roast of some sort, warm bread and a crisp salad along with a myriad of other dishes waiting in the middle of the table) her stomach growled, giving her hunger away. Even the cutlery and make of the plates was fine, the silverware unique and inlayed with red stones whose color complemented the meal. Of course she was going to eat at this point! All that running and wandering she'd done had made her ravenous. However, she wasn't as ravenous as to forget her table manners. The girl ate slowly, savoring a meal she didn't have to cook herself and watched in disgust as Purple shirt scarfed down the salad like a crazed rabbit, Old Suit Man slopped his drink down the front of his suit like an enthusiastic pig, Kimono Man nibbled on some sort of vegetable like a rodent, Pink Dress stuffed more rolls in her mouth like a fat chipmunk, and Red Jacket dropped his meat into his mouth like a mother bird would for her chicks. Yep, it was disgusting. Watanuki couldn't see Blondie and Blue Robe on the other side of Doumeki but the mess and spills around their places that she saw later indicated they had been just as disgusting. Only Yuko's, Doumeki's and Watanuki's place settings were in any sort of order or cleanliness when they were finished and there weren't any spills or accidents on the table cloth around their plates, something that, after seeing the way the others ate, Watanuki took pride in.

"So, anyone care to guess when our illustrious host is going to show up?" Old Suit Man asked loudly while everyone was sipping the last of their drinks quietly.

"Who knows?" Pink Dress answered, her mouth finally void of food. "Though I feel like I've heard a story like this before: a mysterious man who hosts secret for renowned collectors…does that seem familiar?"

"I heard that, but I thought it was nothing more than a silly myth." Blonde replied, smiling softly. Blue Robe wasn't paying any attention at all, staring at the spoon in his hand.

"That's all it is!" Red Jacket interrupted. "You people are ridiculous to think of it as anything else. This isn't a secret auction house."

"Whether it's true or not," Purple Shirt continued, "There's something strange about his place." _Finally! Someone who gets it! _Watanuki sighed to herself. Too bad it had to be one of the collectors that agreed with her. "I get the feeling that our mystery host is watching.

And as he was speaking, something moved in the corner of the room. It was the door in the right corner. It had opened all on its own.

"Hm?" Several people hummed at the same time, noticing the door.

"Well, I guess that's his idea of an invitation for us to leave the room." Old Suit Man commented, standing up with several of the other collectors. Watanuki was still lounging in her seat, the odd normalcy of the meal tempting her to stay in this room where nothing strange had happened.

"Watanuki, let's go." Yuko prompted the girl, standing up and starting to walk away as well, her red heels clicking smartly on the floor.

"Oh," The girl said, sitting up. "Right." She did want to stay someplace normal in the mansion, but if Yuko and Doumeki were leaving she was going with them, at least she knew they were perfectly safe, in their own strange ways. She wasn't being left behind this time. Watanuki stood and reached for her bag, noticing that she wasn't the last one up, but that Blue Robe was still sitting, and slipping the spoon he'd acquired during dinner into his robe.

They ended up back in the parlor room and half of the party started smoking, partaking in after-dinner drinks. Even Doumeki was drinking and he was underage! And Watanuki told him so and he just ignored her (and then Watanuki snatched his glass away and brought a pot of tea over for all of them when she spotted it on a vacant table). Yuko, Watanuki, and Doumeki all ended up at the same table with Blondie and Purple Shirt across from them at another, and Kimono Man and Pink Dress down from them, Red Jacket was at his usual spot on his own couch and Old Suit Man was on his right at his own table. Yuko was smoking her kiseru pipe and Old Suit Man, Pink Dress and Kimono man were all smoking provided cigars, exhaling smoke into the air that floated around, creating a different kind of haze than the one Watanuki had seen before.

"Well, Watanuki?" Yuko asked suddenly, startling the girl out of her observations. "Notice anything?" The girl looked around and spotted something off.

"It looks like we're one short!" Purple Shirt said, voicing what Watanuki had just discovered.

"Yes, where's the white-haired gentleman?" Pink Dress asked.

"Probably just got lost on the way here." Kimono Man added.

"I'm going to go look for him," Purple Shirt said stated, standing up and walking over to the left side door of the parlor.

"I'll come too." Blondie agreed, standing up. "I'd like to find a restroom to power my nose in anyway." She announced, even though no one was particularily interested in why she needed to use the restroom. _Good luck finding it, _Watanuki silently and mirthlessly wished the woman as she followed the man out. Watanuki sipped her tea quietly with Yuko and Doumeki, wondering when they were going to get to the reason they were all here and be able to leave. This place was bad news.

Time passed, the girl didn't know how much because she lacked and clock and she was too stubborn to ask Doumeki to see if he had his watch on him. But after a long while of relative quiet, Pink Dress spoke up, her mouth full of food again.

"It's been a while and no one's come back yet." She said, hogging a tray of snacks all to herself.

"Our host seems to know every move we make," Old Suit Man said, puffing his cigar. "I wonder where he's peeking in on us from." _Through air vents, windows, cracks in the door…you name it and he's probably there, _Watanuki answered in her head, refusing to talk to the man that mocked her.

"I'd guess that someone in this room is spying for him." Red Jacket insinuated, his crossed leg bouncing up and down impatiently.

"And what are you implying?" Old Suit Man asked, his voice turning harder than normal.

"I'm implying that it's probably you – you've been pretty relaxed this whole time." Red Jacket was just itching for a fight.

"I don't care for your tone." Old Suit Guy was itching for it too.

"Calm down, please!" Watanuki interjected. "This is no time to be fighting amongst ourselves!" Doumeki sipped his tea from a traditional Japanese cup, they're Victorian style tea set having been switched to Japanese style at some point, but Watanuki couldn't remember if she was the one who'd switched it or if someone else had.

"Nobody asked for your opinion, little_bitch_. Come to think of it, it's a little strange to have a kid like you here!" Red Jacket hissed, standing up. Watanuki didn't see it but Doumeki's stared snapped into a glare, boring into the face of the man who'd insulted his girlfriend, especially when he was still trying to see her panties underneath her flipped up skirt. Watanuki was upset herself and nearly snarled at the man, but held her tongue and tried to act polite to her elder.

"How can you say that?" Watanuki replied coolly, her own glare narrowing at the man.

"And that woman you're with is a little suspicious too." Old Suit Man pointed his cigar accusingly at Yuko, who was still calmly smoking her pipe.

"Why don't you all be quiet and take a look around." Yuko said, turning toward the men and letting out her breath of smoke. "We've lost another one." All of them looked around the room and noticed that Pink Dress (and her food) were gone, like she'd been spirited away without a sound.

"What the-?!" KJmono man breathed, surprised by his companion's disappearance.

"Where'd she go?" Old Suit man asked. Suddenly, a folded note fell from the ceiling, a ceiling that had no hole or air vents from which to drop and note, and it fluttered down to the floor. Red Jacket walked over and picked it up, reading it out loud.

"'This concludes our evening. Rooms have been prepared for all of you to stay the night.'" The man's voice got confused at the end as he read. Old Suit Guy and Watanuki both walked over to him and looked at the note themselves. "'Please do not leave you room tonight for any reason.'"

"What's going on?" Old Suit Man was getting angry again. "I thought we were having an auction tonight!"

Movement to the right side of the room drew everyone's attention, the door swinging open by itself once again.

"What do you think we should do now, Yuko?" Watanuki asked.

"Our host says we're staying the night, so we stay the night." Yuko was completely going with the flow on this one and it scared Watanuki. The girl shivered. "Just try to keep your guard up. I have a feeling that something will happen tonight." _Oh that's just great. You made me feel so much better about staying in this creepy mansion, Yuko. _"Now you go to bed. I'm just going to stay down here a bit longer."

Red Jacket and Old Suit Man had stomped out of the room by now, slamming the door behind them in frustration of being in the dark about everything and Doumeki was up and leaving as well. Watanuki dashed after him, especially after noticing that Kimono Man had disappeared just like Pink Dress hand, without a sound or trace.

When Watanuki opened the door out of the parlor, the other two men had disappeared and a long, dark hallway stretched out in front of them, a single candle holder with a handle propped up on the wall, its candle already lit for them. Doumeki picked up the candle by its holder and started walking down the hallway, calmly leading Watanuki through the house as she quailed behind him, whimpering every once in a while. Her hands floated up behind his back, not quite ready to hang onto him but almost ready to do it should something jump out at her. They passed through the hallway and then a normal looking room filled with antique lamps all lit up and then into another dark hall that was lined with gray stone and had creepy statues all lined up in it. They looked like a child at formed their bodies, simple construction, no legs, some had their arms in a X over their chests while other's arms dangled and none of them had faces and all of them had red carved markings crisscrossing their bodies, the red seeming to glow like blood in the light of Doumeki's small candle.

"Why does Yuko want us to stay?! This place is bad news!" Watanuki whined, looking around at all the strange statues and cowering to their creepiness.

"Now that I think of it, I've heard of mansions like this before." Doumeki finally said, completely changing the topic. "There are houses like this in America, houses of multimillionaires that are haunted by spirits, so the owners keep building floors and rooms in order to confuse the ghosts. Maybe that's why this mansion is so big." Doumeki's last sentence was interrupted by Watanuki screaming and nearly leaping onto his back. The girl had been looking at the statues when Doumeki's weird fact was being told and she thought she saw a huge, bulging and bloodshot eye protruding out of the face of one of the statues, so she screamed and latched onto him, her fingers digging into his uniform jacket.

"That's cool, Doumeki, but do you think for now that we could change the subject?!" She was trembling, at her wit's end and exhausted from being scared all the time in the mansion.

"We could talk about having sex again if you want-" Doumeki teased in his monotone.

"No!" Watanuki shrieked. "I'd rather talk about the ghosts again if it comes to that! There's no way I'd do it with you in the creepy house!"

"But you'd do it with me, if we weren't in the creepy house?" Doumeki asked, twisting a verbal trap out of Watanuki's words,

"I…uh…I don't…maybe…" Watanuki couldn't find the right words to get her out of the awkward situations she'd created for herself. Doumeki stopped walking and looked back at the blushing girl, waiting for her answer. It's not like sex with Doumeki wasn't a possibility, but she really wasn't thinking about it right now and they'd only been dating a little while! If she wasn't so terrified of the scary spirits possibly wandering around the mansion, then she could probably logic her way out of this mess, but at that exact moment, something dark and shadowy slid around somewhere out of the corner of her eyes and she screamed again, jumping into Doumeki's arms (surprisingly not setting her clothes on fire when throwing her knees over the candle) and ducked her head into his chest so she wouldn't have to see anything anymore that could scare her or eat her.

"I'll take that as a yes." Doumeki replied, catching the girl easily and walking down the hallway like everything was normal. It was nice to know that Watanuki would throw herself at him now when she was spooked, his reliability something he knew she could count on. And in all honesty, he liked to coddle her sometimes, and just held her close until they got out of the creepy statue room and into a normal hallway, where Watanuki promptly jumped out of his arms with a furious blush on her face for being so scared. She mumbled something that could've been a thank you, an insult or an excuse for her behavior, but Doumeki ignored it either way, and just took her hand so the girl would at least feel a little safe until they got into their bedrooms.

Or bedroom, as it turned out, because they ended up in a hallway with an oak leaf pattern that had only one room labeled "Bed Room" and the hall was a dead end. There was no other place to go, so the pair assumed that they had to share a room.

"Is this it?" Watanuki asked, eyeing the door skeptically. By the handle there was another sign carved into the door that looked like the "Restroom" signs, the black carved hand pointing to the door handle. "Please pull the door," it said. Watanuki grabbed the handle and pulled the door towards her, but it wouldn't budge. She growled, sick of all the doors in this place and yanked harder, wiggling around and even placing her foot on the wall to help her yanked on the door. "Why won't it open!?"

"Oi." Doumeki said, interrupting the girl's frustration, even if it was funny.

"What is it?!" She snapped, baring her fangs at him. He just pointed to the sign and Watanuki glanced down, taking a closer look. In between the "Please" and "Door" kanji, there were a couple more characters that were so tiny that the seer hadn't noticed them the first time. The whole sign read, "Please pull the door to the right." "To the right?!" Watanuki shrieked, her voice rising an octave. "I really do hate this place!" She said dramatically as she threw the door to the right and stomped inside.

The room they had was nice, it looked like a hotel room once Watanuki flipped on the light. The little hallway had a bathroom and a closet in it and once she got out of it, she was two beds, a dresser, a nightstand with a lamp in between the beds and a little end table with a vase wedged in the corner.

"Ug." Watanuki sighed. "Why do I have to share a room with you?" Doumeki didn't reply and just blew out his candle and placed it next to the vase. "Everyone else gets a room to themselves. It doesn't seem fair, especially with how big this place is. But I don't think I'm going to mind the company tonight, as long as you keep your hands to yourself!" Doumeki wasn't listening to her and opened the closet, curious to see what was inside. Two sleeping yukata, that's what was inside.

"This would be a creepy place to be in alone. I wonder which room Yuko's in," Watanuki was still talking as she walked over to the curtained window and pushed the cloth aside to look out. This window was one of those weird inside windows and it just opened up to a view of the other rooms and windows across the way instead of looking outside. "I hope she's okay. All we can really do is worrying about taking care of ourselves. She said to keep our guard up. Doumeki, in case anything happens-" The girl was cut off by a yukata flying into her face, almost inhaling the cloth of the robe into her open mouth. "What was that for?!" She snarled, ripping the white yukata off of her head.

"You should change." Doumeki said, throwing his robe on the bed closet to the wall and starting to unbutton his jacket. He shrugged of his clothing, unworried about Watanuki seeing him undressed. She'd already seen him practically naked after the Demon Parade incident when he'd stayed over, so what did it matter? Well, it mattered to Watanuki who was still embarrassed about the whole Doumeki seeing her naked thing.

"Doumeki! Don't just strip in the middle of the room!" Watnauki was blushing again, averting her eyes as the archer's jacket and shirt came off, revealing his chiseled chest.

"You've already seen everything, mostly." He replied, going to unbutton his pants, watching her reaction. Watanuki threw her hands up to block him out of her vision, her blush deepening.

"Just go in the bathroom if you're going to do that."

"Prude." He jabbed, dropping his pants to the floor.

"Exhibitionist!" She shot back.

"You haven't seen that yet."

"I don't want to right now!"

"'Right now,'" He repeated a tiny smile on his lips at the twist he put Watanuki's words into again.

"Quit twisting what I say!" She whined and by the time she was done whining, Doumeki was dressed in his yukata.

"You can look now." He said, amused with his girlfriend. Watanuki put her hands down, still blushing and glared at him. They stared at each other for a moment. "Well?" Doumeki asked.

"Well, what?!" Watanuki snarled.

"Aren't you going to return the favor?" He asked, looking her up and down. "Change."

"Not in front of you!" Watanuki growled, grabbing the young man's shoulders in her rage and pushing him into the bathroom, slamming the door shut once he was in there. "And no peeking!" She pointed at the door angrily. She didn't get a response but she stomped back to her bed nonetheless and started undressing so she could go to bed. She tossed her jacket and shirt on the floor, kicking her shoes off in the process and then sitting down to take off her socks. When she got to her skirt, the girl finally realized that it had been flipped up for some time and nobody had told her. A cross vein popped out on her head, knowing that Doumeki had been staring at her panties ever since her skirt got caught. "Were you looking at my underwear all night without telling me!?" She shouted, getting angrier at Doumeki.

"Maybe." Came the muffled reply through the room. The bathroom door got a shoe thrown at it for good measure.

"PERVERT!" Watanuki yelled, pushing her skirt down and taking off her bra before slipping into her robe and tying it shut with a full not in case Doumeki got any funny ideas. "Useless, I'm going to bed." Watanuki grumbled, sliding under the covers and placing her glasses on the nightstand. "Turn of the light!" She ordered as she rolled over toward the window side and Doumeki flipped it off as he walked back into the room. Watanuki shut her eyes, angry and worried and exhausted and strung out after this weird day that she didn't notice at first that she had a guest in her bed. Doumeki had slid in behind her, spooning the girl's back as she grumbled to herself, his intentions completely pure and for comfort reasons but when the girl felt a warmth at her back, she flipped out, knowing exactly who it was.

"GET OUT OF MY BED!" She shrieked, flipping around and shoving the archer away from her.

"I wasn't going to do anything." He said.

"Of course you weren't!" She replied sarcastically, not believing him after the stunts he'd pulled that day. Just go to your own bed!" The raven huffed. Doumeki got up off of the floor and slid into his own bed, shrugging at the girl's actions. She watched him like a hawk, her head turned to the left as she lay in her stomach, making sure he didn't try any more funny business. A few minutes passed and Doumeki did nothing, seemingly just going to sleep, and that left Watanuki alone with her thoughts again, which wandered out of her mouth all on their own.

"I wonder what we got ourselves into, coming to this place." The girl mumbled mostly to herself. "I just hope we stay safe until morning." The girl's hand slid under her pillow in an attempt to get comfortable on her stomach when she felt something odd under there. She pulled it out, squinting to see the folded note in her hand. She frowned at it and placed her elbows on her pillow, her left hand reaching out to turn on the bedside lamp and grab her glasses. The girl slipped them on to read the note out loud. "'You're both safe. Do not leave the room. Enjoy your night and sleep well.' I'm sick of these notes." The girl grumbled.

"Why don't you go to sleep?" Doumeki asked, a little miffed that Watanuki had pushed him away but not miffed enough to really be mad at her.

"I'm going okay?!" Watanuki set the note and her glasses back on the nightstand and clicked the light off before lying back down again. Her eyes drifted shut slowly and before she knew it, the girl was asleep, despite the strange mansion and the prospect of spirits lurking around her. Doumeki was with her, and no matter how frustrating and annoying his presence could be, she was glad he was there to protect her.

Her dream looked like the salt and pepper screen of a TV that was turned into a dead channel, the specks of black and white writhing across her dream vision, but without the white noise that usually accompanied it. Instead, there was a man's voice, calling out to her.

"Are you ready?" He sang.

"Not ready yet!" A small girl's voice sang back.

"Are you ready?" He called again, playing hide and seek with a child apparently.

"Not ready yet!" She called back. The blankness of her vision cleared and Watanuki was able to see a brick wall take shape, even if the black and white specks didn't clear as well, they made up with entire picture, but the girl could make out the rest of the hallway as she walked down it and turned to the left when the hall came to a stop. She was the man, she realized, looking around for the child that was in her dream somewhere.

"Are you ready?" The man's voice called again.

"I'm ready now!" The girl sang back, finally hidden it seemed. Watanuki looked down the hall she was turned up it ended too, the window on the wall opening out to show her the single seat swing she'd seen in front of the mansion when she'd arrived. Watanuki turned around and headed down the hallway she was in, finding two cords and pulling on them, revealing the trap door stairs that led up into the ceiling. She climbed up then and found herself in a room filled with shadowed boxes, too many to count and she walked around them, searching for the child. Instead of finding the girl, she found a tiny brown door, the only thing in color, inscribed with the Celtic knot thing that Watanuki had seen on the key to the mansion that the young woman had had.

Watnauki opened the door and ducked inside, finding another room with a table, a window with cute curtains and a bookshelf. With right hand curtains looked odd, bulgy, as if someone was hiding behind them. She'd found the girl! Watanuki poked the curtains and they giggled.

"You found me!" The girl revealed herself, her dress pink and colored in her black and white dream like the door had been, but Watanuki couldn't see her face, just her shoulders and down as she knelt on the floor. Something spilled from the girl's hands and rolled on the floor. They were colored bean bags. "These?" The girl asked, as if she'd been asked a question herself. "These are my bean bags! I told you I was going to start collecting something remember? Well, this is what I picked to collect and I've already got this many! You should start a collection too! It's really fun! It has to be something no one else is collecting or it doesn't count!"

Watanuki's eyes sprang open, suddenly awake, her dream still wavering before her eyes. She said up groggily, wondering what could've woken her and looked to see if she'd woken up Doumeki. But where Doumeki's bed was supposed to be, there was a wall instead.

"Hm?" Watanuki hummed, not quite awake enough yet to notice how bad her situation was. The girl reached for her glasses and put them on, staring at the wall again. "WHAT?!" She yelped, completely shocked and terrified that Doumeki wasn't beside her anymore. She leapt out of bed and slapped her hands on the wall, trying to see if he was trapped inside or something. "Doumeki! Hey, Doumeki! Shizuka!" She called, her voice utterly terrified. She didn't get an answer and the girl dashed into the hall of her room, the walls extending to the bathroom and then the door like Doumeki's bed had never existed in this room in the first place. _He's gone…he's gone…he's gone! _"What happened here? Shit!" Watanuki ran over to the window, thinking that she might've been moved to another room, but when she opened the curtains, it was the same room she'd been in the whole night. It had shifted around all on its own. Watanuki walked up to the note and opened it, going to read the words "you both are safe" to make herself feel better and reassure herself that Doumeki was fine, but when she opened the note, it had changed, just like the room.

"'You are safe,'" It read. "The words changed! Earlier the note had said that both of us were safe here!" That added to her uneasiness. "What happened to Shizuka? Where's Yuko?" Watanuki's heart clenched in worry, her breathing speeding up as terror started to consume her again. And that's when she saw something out of the corner of her eyes, a new shadow on the wall, and something moving outside her window. The girl looked over and saw a little girl in a pink dress with wild brown hair teetering to her feet, standing on her window sill and probably having climbed all the way up here by herself. Her face was blank and gray, similar to the spirit that had morphed through the hallway before dinner, and she had vacant and expressionless eyes with an unearthly gaze. That was freaky enough but then the girl slapped her hands on the window, trying to get in and that terrified Watanuki even more. The girl screamed and ran over to her window, throwing the curtains shut and running for the door, trying to get away from the horrifying girl. She grabbed the door know and started to pull the door open when she remembered that the letter said not to leave the room. But Doumeki was missing and there was a creepy, scary, terrifying little girl haunting the seer outside of her window! She couldn't stay here! But she was supposed to be safe here so she should probably stay…but not by herself! She had to find Doumeki!

"Get it together, Watanuki!" She chided herself, her heart pounding, tightening her grip on the handle before yanking it open. She leapt out of the room before she could change her mind.

To Be Continued…

A/N: And there you go! Part 2's coming up soon and then onto the second season of xxxHolic! See you all later! :3


	15. The Collection and The Payment

A/N: ZareEraz here! I've got the last part of the movie for ya! I hope you like it! And don't worry, the Spider's Grudge arc is next this time, I promise. That's one of my favorite parts of xxxHolic too. Well, enjoy and don't forget to review so I can know what you think. Happy Reading! :3

Interlude: A Midsummer Night's Dream Part 2 – The Collection and The Payment

Watanuki let the door swing shut behind her, finding herself outside in a peaceful rice field minus the rice and bright stars, faraway mountains and a few willow trees in front of her. The forest was quite some way off and the sound of crickets whispered through the quiet night, completely calming her to the point where she couldn't remember what had been so urgent just a few moments before. Surprisingly enough, she was completely dressed in her school uniform and jacket even though she'd neglected to put on her normal clothes before leaving her bedroom. The girl stepped into the field and looked back, realizing that the mountains were actually painted on the walls of the huge room – someone had just made the inside look like the outside. The girl glanced up at the moon painting on the ceiling and found the moon rabbit making rice cakes on its mortar. She looked the other way, finding Saturn and Mars hanging in the other corner.

Watanuki started walking down the path she was on, passing in between a few ponds and walking past the willow trees. The moon rabbit started to move, pounding rice above her head as she gazed at the stars, looking at the constellations that were draw as stars and then outlined with the shapes they were supposed to represent. Cygnus' cross was connected, but someone had drawn a swan in the sky, flying among the stars. And there was Sagittarius and Scorpio and Crux, Gemini, Capricorn and some others that Watanuki didn't recognize, but it didn't matter because she'd found another door. The girl walked through and entered a different room.

This room made her feel tiny. It looked like a parlor room, but all the furniture was massive, the coffee table at least six feet taller than she was and the chairs were the same and the dressers…even the clock was huge! As the seer walked underneath the table, she wondered if this was what Mokona felt like. She knew time was passing as she walked into the next room, but she wasn't sure how much since she didn't have a watch or a phone on her. It didn't really matter, not when she couldn't quite recall what she was trying to do. The next room looked like the outside again, only there was one path and it was surrounded by hundreds of Jizo statues, all moss covered and staring at Watanuki as she passed them. She could hear then chanting too, the words indiscernible as they floated around her head. The next room was a huge sea of water and rowboats, some in good condition and others falling apart, gathered in a room that was lit by only a far off, faint magenta light. The only other thing that glowed was the rickety shanty that sat by the pier the girl walked on, glowing that same, sickly pink color. The next room was full of giant drinking birds, the heat engines chirping every time they dipped their heads and popped back up only to duck down for another drink moments later. Watanuki looked around, unsurprised and not even a little bit curious on how some of them were stuck to the ceiling upside down without splashing their water everywhere. But she had remembered what she'd been worried about earlier and started calling for his wayward boyfriend.

"Doumeki!" She yelled, putting her hand up to cup her mouth. "Where are you? This isn't funny! Shizuka!" She kept calling throughout each room, looking high and low for the archer until her path was halted. She'd entered a room lit by street lamps with hundreds of room in it, all spiraling up and up and up into the darkness of the mansion. The stairs leading up alternated with each door, switching from red stone to blue every other one. At the bottom, where Watanuki was standing, there was an odd structure that looked like someone that a cathedral would be decorated with and there were people dressed in Victorian clothing standing on two spinning platforms, one on top of the other. Well, they weren't quite people, but full-size statues made to look like people and some had their arms up, others looked like they were dancing or singing, but none of them looked very happy…even the ones with smiles on their faces.

"There's something really strange about this place." Watanuki whispered, looking up at the people statues. "Something very strange." Watanuki tore her eyes away from the people statues and looked at the first door on the huge spiral staircase. It was a blue stone alcove with an odd looking stone placed in the floor in front of the door. On the gray stone, someone had etched two marks that looked like a backwards question mark without the dot and a normal question mark without the dot. It kind of looked like a trap, so when Watanuki walked up to the floor stone, she creeped around it just in case stepping on it activated a booby trap or something. She was standing in front of the door now, staring at its wood face with one question on her lips.

"What's in there?" She asked, reaching for the knob and opening the door. It opened with a creak and she peeked one eye in.

The room itself was small widthwise, but it extended farther back than the girl had anticipated. But the room itself wasn't the interesting thing…it's what was inside that was interesting. Lining the walls and floor and ceiling were glass cases held in place by black bars and supports and inside the blue lit cases were antenna. "It looks like a butterfly collection!" Watanuki exclaimed, walking up to look at a case closer. "Sort of." But instead of beautiful wings, this person had ripped the bodies apart of all the specimens and just kept the heads. The girl swallowed, creeped out by someone who'd collect thousands of insects just to keep their heads and antennae. Watanuki didn't want to be here anymore, that creeping feeling of being watched and haunted crawling up into her stomach again. She took a step back, hands trembling, ready to run when something grabbed her shoulder. She did the logical thing and screamed at a pitch that no human should even strive to copy if they wanted to keep their ears intact.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"The girl continued screaming even as she whirled away from whatever had touched her at high speeds, throwing her arms over her face like that would protect her. But it wasn't a monster that had grabbed her, but Doumeki, who was trying to keep his ears intact after hearing his girlfriend scream.

"Oh…it's you, Watanuki." He stated in his own brand of sarcasm, ears ringing. The girl immediately calmed down and sank to the floor boneless, relieved that she wasn't going to be eaten by a spirit.

"Yes, it's me!" She leapt to her feet and growled in her boyfriend's face. "I've been wandering around this stupid place all night looking for you and Yuko!"

"You were worried about us?" Doumeki asked, giving the girl a blank look. Watanuki quailed, not wanting to admit that she was worried to his face (but she had been worried nonetheless), because dammit! She could take care of herself without running to Doumeki for every little thing!

"I didn't say I was worried," She started, looking away and blushing, basically giving herself away despite her words, "I just went to sleep and when I woke up and you were gone. Plus the whole room had been changed around, so I started wandering around looking for you and I just ended up here."

"So did I. And I left my room to look for you." Doumeki agreed. "It's strange, but I have a feeling that we were led here somehow."

"So you were worried about me!" Watanuki gloated, triumphantly, the tables having turned.

"Then that means you were worried about me too." Doumeki shot back. The girl's blush deepened before she forced it down.

"I didn't say that!"

"It's okay." Doumeki teased in his monotone. "You can be worried about your boyfriend. I'd be worried if you weren't." Watanuki didn't have a reply to that so Doumeki just leaned down and kissed her cheek.

"What was that for?" She asked, her hand coming up to touch her cheek once he pulled away.

"It was sweet of you to worry about me." The smallest smile in the world was pasted on his face.

"I never said that-!" She shouted, but she was cut off when Doumeki's mouth came crashing down on hers, his arms snaking around her waist. Surprised by his sudden affection, Watanuki didn't do anything for a few moments and just let Doumeki kiss her, but then she noticed the antennae again and decided that kissing in this creepy mansion surrounded by butterfly heads was just about the last thing she wanted to do right now. So, she broke away from the kiss and glared at her boyfriend. But he just took it in stride and quickly stole another kiss before she really got mad.

"No! We are not making out in a place like this!" Watanuki yanked herself away from Doumeki's lips and snarled at him.

"Can we make out someplace else?" He asked as the girl started shoving him out of the door.

"If it will make you shut up about it, fine!" Watanuki was blushing again. The world's smallest smile was back again as Doumeki let himself be pushed out the door.

"You need to be more truthful with yourself." He advised, referring to the whole conversation they'd been having.

"And you need to be less grabby!"

"Never." The seer was about to get mad at him again when she thought she heard something, whipping around to try and see who was there. Her hands were trembling again as fear pushed out the normalcy of being with Doumeki, but one hand stopped trembling when Doumeki took it in his own huge hand. Watanuki's head flipped around, half-glaring half-grateful. He just gave her a look.

"Come on. You know it'll make you feel better." He had a point but she didn't want him to know that, but she still kept the hand.

"Dumbass."

"Let's go." Since there was no other way out of the room than the way they'd came, Watanuki and Doumeki walked up to the next door in a red alcove, both a little curious about what was inside. The stone on the floor was etched with five horizontal lines with little X's through all of them. Watanuki had no clue what that could be but she opened the door anyway. Inside, illuminated by three uncovered light bulbs was a room full of barbed wires, some strung out like fences and other coiled up on the walls and ceiling.

"Fences?" Watanuki asked to no one in particular as she walked in.

"Barbwire barricades." Doumeki answered nonetheless. _Does he always have to correct me?! _

"Weirder and weirder." Watanuki said as she looked around. "First a room full of butterfly antennae and now a barbed wire fence collection? What's next?" She asked in trepidation, holding onto Doumeki's hand a little tighter.

The next stone was etched with an image of a belt or a collar that was buckled, and inside that purple lit room where dog collars of all shapes and sizes hung on the walls and ceiling, leaving the floor clear. Most of them had spikes or studs, but some were plain and just had buckles.

"Must be the collar room." Watanuki said.

"Want to wear one?" Doumeki asked, pointing to a collar with diamonds on it. "This one looks nice."

"Shut up! I'm not your dog!" Watanuki growled, baring her very dog-like fangs at the man. "How about I make you wear one!?"

"Woof." Doumeki replied, unfazed.

The next collection room was full of birdcages warmly lit by yellow lights – some very simple and some so ornate that Watanuki couldn't believe the detail and work that had been put into some of the pieces. The next room was hardly lit at all and held all sorts of hunting traps and bear traps that looked even more menacing in the darkness. The next collection room was full of tube-like pants that the girl couldn't name but the room looked like a threatening green house full of mutant plants. There were rooms full of canes, rocks that looked like they had faces, chains, metronomes, test tube sets, Japanese theater and festival masks, saws and knives, pot lids, hanging hooks, traffic lights…and the rooms seem to extend up forever and no matter how many doors they opened, there wasn't an exit to be found. They kept looking, Watanuki still holding onto Doumeki's hand as she led him to room after room.

The next room was full of spoons, all lining the walls and ceiling, and lit by yellow light that accented the gold colored walls. Watanuki ahd never seen this collection before but there was something familiar about it that she just couldn't place.

"Spoons?" Watanuki mused, looking at the wall. Doumeki wanted to wander further back into the room than they had before so he let go of his girlfriend's hand and did so, leaving her staring at the wall.

Watanuki swept her eyes over a section of wall, looking at the designs and makes of the spoons, her eye catching on one in particular. Now, she'd never have noticed it if she hadn't been standing in the exact spot she was so it must've been inevitable, but on silver spoon stuck out to her. It had a red jewel on its fat handle, and the three flower design was familiar. "Hey…wait…I know this one." Where had she seen it before? Watanuki thought for a moment and then it hit her. The Blue Robe man had tucked it into his shirt after dinner! "It's from dinner earlier!"

"Oi, Watanuki. Come here." Doumeki called from the back of the room. The girl left her part of the wall walked down to him, not even getting mad at him for saying "oi" because he had used her name that time. The girl walked up to the wall he was staring at and gaped at the painting hanging on the wall. It was Blue Robe!

"Hey! That looks like him!" Watanuki pointed to the painting, her raised hand trembling. "The man who disappeared after dinner. Why would there be a picture of him hanging up in here?" But Watanuki never got her answer because all of a sudden Red Jacket and Old Suit Man (minus the suit but plus a yukata) appeared behind them and started talking.

"Looks like you two couldn't sleep any better than we could, huh?" Old Suit Man asked, rubbing one of his shoulders. Watanuki and Doumeki turned to look at the pair, both surprised by their sudden appearance. "Those beds really are uncomfortable, aren't they?"

"Ha!" Red Jacket scoffed. "You were just trying to find our host before anyone else did so you could suck up to him."

"Shut up, you little rat!" Old Suit Man whirled on Red Jacket. "I could say the same thing about you anyway!"

"You're just all worked up because I've got you figured out!" Red Jacket snapped back.

"This really isn't the best time to argue!" Watanuki interrupted, sick of hearing these collectors just go after each other's throats. "Don't you realize that this guy has us trapped in here?"

"Yeah, so what if he does?" Old Suit replied, shocking the girl. He sounded so unconcerned about being stuck in this creepy place!

"I'll complete my collection if it means staying here the rest of my life!" Red Jacket said, his voice taking on an insane sort of timber, his face stretching into a strained smile with wide eyes. He started walking out of the room, leaving everyone else behind.

"I'm not going to let anyone out do me!" Old Suit vowed, his own face looking a little crazy as he followed Red Jacket out the door.

"Man, those two are weird." Watanuki sighed, creeped out and relieved that they were gone.

"You know, in this place," Doumeki started. "I think we're considered the weird ones."

"Then let's go!" Watanuki turned to her boyfriend, finding the perfect excuse to leave. "We just need to find Yuko and get out of here!"

Just then, a bell started to toll outside the room. Watanuki and Doumeki ran to the door and looked down, finding that the bell was sounding from somewhere below them. A suspicious feel washed over Watanuki, like the bell was signaling something that wasn't the time…it was ominous and disturbing to the girl, but she found herself running down the spiral room's stairs with Doumeki, Red Jacket and Old Suit running to catch up with them since they'd run up several spirals in their competition to outdo one another. As they ran, the odd structure with the people statutes started to move, it's two platforms spinning in time to the music it started to place. It was a giant music box! Doumeki reached the last two rooms or so before the bottom floor and jumped off the side, reaching back behind him to prompt Watanuki to jump as well. She trusted him to catch her and leapt off the stairs. The archer caught her waist with both of his hands and lowered her down, her hands on his shoulders to steady herself. They both rant to the front of the giant music box and watched as the laughing people statues turned and turned. Red Jacket and Old Suit Man joined them a few moments later, watching just as they were. The song started to wind down, the mechanism spinning the platforms coming to a rest, a man with a newsie cap and shoulder satchel coming to rest right in front of them. On cue with the music ending, the bottom of the satchel opened, dumping out four numbered pieces of paper, folded like the notes Watanuki had been seeing all day.

"Move it!" Red Jacket pushed Doumeki out of the way to get to the papers on the floor.

"Let me see those!" Old Suit Man did the same with Watanuki, kneeling down to grab two notes before Red Jacket could take them all. "'By leaving the rooms assigned to you, you have all broken…the rules…' What the-!?" He stared to read. "'As punishment, I have devised a game in which all of you shall participate.'"

"'Hide and seek.'" Red Jacket continued, reading his notes out loud. "'If you can find me within ten minutes that means you win. If you don't find me you lose. Win and we give you what you came here for, lose and you'll have to play another game. Let's begin.' What's going on?!"

The sound of fingers snapping drenched the four of them in darkness, the street lamps on the stairs all shutting off at the same time and Watanuki's sinking feeling got stronger as she reached for Doumeki's hand again. They couldn't lose…not in this place! Losing could mean anything in a weird place like this, even death!

The room was dark above their heads and beyond where they were standing, seemingly endless, the only light source was right under their feet and that wasn't near strong enough to illuminate the room, wherever the light was coming from anyway – Watanuki couldn't tell where it was coming from. There was a strange rumbling sound above them too, like a mechanism was turning and the parts were making clicking and rolling noises. Trapped in this new room, Old Suit Man and Red Jacket started looking around for an exit instinctively, and Watanuki looked too…only she was looking up.

"Messing with our heads-!" Red Jacket hissed, looking for a way out. "Screw this! I'm getting out of here!"

"The ceiling-!" She cried, as the whole roof came down low enough to be illuminated. It was moving and it was going to crush them if they didn't get out of here fast! _Damn! I feel like I'm in one of those jungle adventure movies! _

"What is this?! What do we do?!" Old Suit Man growled, stomping around like a little child. Suddenly, the whole room lit up dimly, revealing a full size door on the one side. Red Jacket and Old Suit Man ran to it, both trying to pull open the seemingly locked door, arguing and shoving and kicking the whole time they did it. With that door occupied by two people Watanuki did not want to mess with, the girl didn't know what do to. Thankfully, Doumeki was the observant type and had found another door, just big enough for a child on the other side of the room.

"Watanuki." He called. The girl flipped around and then ran to him when she saw the other exit. They knelt down together and looked at the grimy door. Watanuki's eyes widened as she wiped away the dust and found the same Celtic knot clover that was on the gate of the mansion and on the key into the house and in her dream.

"I know this pattern! I saw it in my dream!" She exclaimed, seeing the full two clovers and the keyhole. "I know! We need Yuko's key!" A sudden urge to frisk her pockets came over the girl and she did just that, digging her hands through her jacket and skirt. "Now…if only we had it…but that would be too convenient wouldn't it?" _With my luck, Yuko's still got it and we're now dead. _"Oh, here it is!" Watanuki yanked out and object in her skirt pocket and she knew to be the key and held it up, inserting it into the lock and turning it.

"Did she know this would happen?!" Watanuki asked. The key didn't budge. The girl's heart leapt into her throat, panic setting in after her moment of calm. "It won't open!"

"Give it here." Doumeki pushed Watanuki's hand away and took the key. The seer glanced back at the other two, seeing them still struggling with the door, now blocked by the lowering ceiling and almost shouted at Doumeki to _hurry the hell up_, but then the key turned and the small door could just barely open as the ceiling started to press on it. "Done, hurry." Doumeki commanded, crawling into the room beyond. Watanuki reached around the door to yank the key out as the ceiling bent and then splintered the door, sending the remains careening across the room. She held up her arms to cover her eyes from the flying splinters that came with the destruction of the door, wasting precious seconds. The ceiling was brushing her head now, almost ready to crush her when she threw herself through the doorway, the sounds of screaming suddenly cutting off behind her as the ceiling hit the floor.

Watanuki and Doumeki both looked at the blocked doorway, barely having escaped death and the game had just started! To distract herself from the imminent threat of death, the girl tore her eyes away from the closed room and looked around. This place looked like that attic room in her dream, with the bookshelf full of books and knick knacks and stuffed animals, another case filled with more books and a few bottles of wine and sake and the single window with the curtains that the little girl had hid behind. Even the stacked table and chairs were there, all in color this time.

"This place was in my dream too!" She breathed, her chest still heaving in terror as she stood up and walked towards the window.

"Looks like this place has been gathering dust for decades." Doumeki commented, standing up and running his fingers across a shelf and then blowing a cloud of dust off of his hands. Watanuki found a small easel in the corner that seemed to hold a painting, judging by the cloth draped over the canvas. The raven pulled the cloth off and stared at the little brunette girl in the pink dress depicted in the picture, sitting on that swing that she'd seen outside the mansion. She was even holding her little bean bags.

"It's that girl!" She gasped. Doumeki peeked over her shoulder to look.

"Do you know her or something?"

"I've seen her a couple of times since we've been here." The girl outside her bedroom window, the girl in her dream…and probably the spirit she'd seen in the hallway on the way back to the dining room. "I bet you that she's the one that's got us locked up in this mansion!" Watanuki went to the window next, opening it with a sickening creak. "We need to hurry! We don't have much time! We have to find the girl and get Yuko back from her and then get out of here and never come back! Now let's get going!" She leapt out the window into a sort of sewer like hallway done in brick and Doumeki followed her out, running just a step behind her.

"How much time is left?" Watanuki asked.

"Don't know." Doumeki answered honestly. A bell tolled somewhere and writing appeared on the floor in front of their feet, moving with them.

Four minutes left, it said.

"I said I had a bad feeling about this place!" Watanuki growled. "But did anyone listen to me? No! There is no fucking way that we're going to find them in four minutes in this huge mansion!" They ran through the Paris sewer room and then the cathedral catwalk room and then the hallway with the bamboo stalks on one side and the paneled doors on the other. More writing appeared on the paper windows, moving with the pair again as the bell sounded again.

Three minutes left, it said.

"So, are we running to anywhere in particular now?" Doumeki asked, keeping pace with Watanuki and almost passing her. That still ticked the girl off that he was faster so kicked her feet harder to get in front again.

"Nope." She replied. "All I know is that we can't stop!" Then they were running through a gray stone hallway with red flowers in little alcoves, opening the dark wood doors when they had into them. The next door opened into a dimly lit hallway with wood floors and white walls and more writing appeared in front of them along with a tolling bell.

Two minutes left, it said.

"Aw, damnit!" Watanuki wailed. They were running out of time!

" A dead end." Doumeki called out, as the hallway came to a stop. But Watanuki felt like she'd been here before and looked down, seeing a tiny little opening that they could barely crawl through.

"Don't look at my underwear!" She ordered, ducking down and starting to wriggling through. Doumeki knelt and followed the girl, having to look in front of him to see where he was going and getting a look at her panties at the same time.

"Should you really be worried about that now?"

"Always!" She snapped back. They crawled as fast as they could and reached the end of the little hall, squeezing out and standing up into a room with a crooked cat walk that rested floors and floors above the bottom level, the Japanese style doors lit up with warm light.

"Wait, something's strange here…this place looks familiar!" Watanuki recalled that she'd passed through this room on the way to the bathroom and then the next room was the first hallway they'd ever walked through, the one with the flowers lining the walls and the marble floors. "We're right back where we started!" She cried in dismay turning around and hoping that Doumeki followed her. The next room was the one with the shrine and the long stairs down into the cathedral catwalk that they'd already been through. The rain had stopped and the night sky above them was filled with stars, illuminating the sutras pasted to the walls. "We're running in circles here!" Watanuki skid to a halt, throwing her hands up in defeat and trying to catch her breath. Doumeki stopped too, not knowing why she said they were running in circles – he'd never seen any of these rooms before. "So what do we do now?!" The bell tolled again, writing appearing on the poles holding up the walls.

One minute left, it said. But they had already lost.

"Damnit!" Watanuki hissed again, looking around at all the signs. And when she turned around to look at Doumeki for reassurance or something like that, she found herself staring into the dead eyes of the little girl spirit. She grabbed onto Watanuki's shoulders, her mouth moving as if trying to say something as the girl screamed and tried to push her away desperately.

"What is it? Kimihiro?" Doumeki said, his voice sounding a little panicked as the girl started swaying and flailing, to close to the railing and a fatal drop than he'd like her to be. "What's wrong?" He couldn't see anything out of the ordinary around her, so why what she acting like that?" Watanuki kept screaming as the spirit pushed her over the edge of the rail, her body dangling upside down as Doumeki reached out and caught her foot, trying to hold her up before she fell to her death. Then the rail broke under his weight and they both tipped over the side, falling down, down, down as the spirit of the girl hovered at the top of the mansion, lifelessly watching them fall. Everything faded into black and all Watanuki had to hold onto was Doumeki as he used her clothes to crawl up her body and then hug her as they fell. She buried her head into his chest, not wanting to see their imminent, messy end, still screaming even as he held her.

The falling stopped suddenly (just like everything else in the mansion – sudden this, sudden that) and Watanuki found herself sitting in Doumeki's lap as the archer looked behind her. Watanuki didn't even complain about behind in her boyfriend's lap and looked at the lone door in front of them. It looked like all the other doors that had been in the spiral collection room and it even had its own floor stone too, lit by a spot light shining down on it. But unlike the other rooms, this door looked old and the wall it was set into had cracking paint, it didn't look pristine at all as the other's had. Doumeki scooted his girl out of his lap and stood up, helping her to her feet before walking over to look at the floor stone. This one was etched with the outline of a person that looked liked images that differentiated men's and women's bathrooms, and inside its chest was a little red heart. Whatever than meant, it was certain that this was the door they were meant to go through, seeing as there were no other exits. Watanuki reached out and opened the door, walking into what had to be the final room. Whatever happened in here felt like it was going to be the last trick. The door shut behind them as soon as Doumeki stepped through.

The room was dimly lit with only a lone light illuminating a chair in the center of the room, if you could call it a "center." In reality, the room was shaped like a cross, the walls and ceiling littered with octagonal shapes that looked like frames of all sizes set into it, and the chair was where the four halls met. And there was a person in that chair.

"So…" A deep voice echoed throughout the room. "You managed to find me."

"And who exactly are you?!" Watanuki yelled, fed up with all the tricks and dicking around. The man sitting in the chair had white-ash colored hair from what she could see, the ends brushing past his white shirt collar and onto the blue part of his shirt. His legs were crossed and sticking out diagonally from behind the chair, clad in white slacks and shoes.

"Uh, who are you talking to?" Doumeki asked, only seeing an ordinary chair when Watanuki was clearly shouting at something out of the ordinary.

"Wait a minute!" It finally dawned on the girl. "If I'm the only one who can see you, then that means you're-!"

"It is truly amazing the number of things people come to possess during their relatively short lives." The spirit of the man said, ignoring everything the girl had just said. "Of course, there are those among us who amass a great deal of one particular thing."

"I assume that you're talking about those people we call 'collectors.'" A female voice said from behind Watanuki and Doumeki. The pair turned and found Yuko standing behind them, gaudy jewelry and all.

"Yuko! You're alright!" Watanuki shouted, a genuine smile gracing her face as she found her boss safe and sound.

"I'll have you know that you've been difficult to keep track of. No sooner did your presence disappear and here you are again." The man said, his eyes sliding over to study the witch. Watanuki was too busy being relieved to care about anything he said (but it did confirm her suspicion of being watched and dragged along in the mansion).

"Watanuki here can detect spirits, but no spirit can approach or harm Doumeki." Yuko commented as she walked up to her charges. "They make a rather effective tool against you, like a blinder, don't you think?"

"I see it now." The man admitted.

"So," Yuko continued. "What kind of penalty game do you have planned for us?"

"All me to show you…my private collection." The man said ominously. "No one else has ever seen it before." The empty frames on the walls lit up, all holding pictures of people – all ages, genders and sizes – some smug, some bored looking and some smiling like they're photo had been taken for the school yearbook.

"What is this?" Watanuki gasped, looking all around her at the faces of people she'd never met. Except one, and it was conveniently right in front of her again.

"If you look closely, you'll recognize one of the faces." The man prompted. And that was the face that Watanuki had found familiar. It was Blue Robe again, and he was nestled between pictures of another man and a woman. "The spoon collector from this evening was chosen to be placed here.

"What?!" Watanuki snapped her head towards the triumphant looking man.

"Tonight was a competition." He explained. "I had to determine which of you would be entering my collection."

"That's why you invited all the collectors to your mansion." Yuko said, finally understanding. She crossed her arms as she continued to unravel their host's intentions. "Not to complete their collections, but to add to your own."

"I study them carefully all evening to assess their quality," The man continued. "Unfortunately, only one was worthy to enter into my grand collection."

"And what happened to the ones you didn't choose!?" Watanuki snarled, pissed that this man had toyed with them all evening, picked the one person he liked and probably done away with the others that didn't meet his standards.

"They all have a lovely new home inside one of my favorite paintings." The man sighed. It clicked in both Watanuki's mind and Doumeki's. They'd seen that painting, the one that seemed to be a party at the mansion but had only held angry or despondent people in it.

"Do you mean the one in the parlor!?" Watanuki asked.

"You'll find that now it has six more inhabitants that it did earlier." The man continued. "Collectors have an unusual attachment to some specific sort of thing – that attachment is something that we describe with the suffix '-holic.' Can you imagine for a moment if one collected souls instead of things?"

"So what you have here is a collection of collectors." Yuko finished up. "You became fascinated by their obsession with things and instead of collecting objects, you collected them. Is it enough now? Are you satisfied with these souls or will there be more?"

"My collection is incomplete," He answered, acknowledging the later outcome of Yuko's question. "You see…I am still missing the most important piece of all." _That does not sound good at all, _Watanuki thought, trepidation clawing its way up her stomach and into her chest. "I'm afraid that I'll be needing your soul…witch." The last word was hissed, the frustration of trying to keep track of and capture Yuko finally showing through.

"I'm flattered that you think so highly of me. Unfortunately, I don't collect anything so I wouldn't fit in." Yuko replied.

"On the contrary, as a part of your business, you collect people's most prized collections every day." The man countered. "If that doesn't make one the ultimate collector, then I really couldn't say what does."

"While I've enjoyed your hospitality thus far, I'll have to decline. I'm not about to let myself be trapped in this mansion." Yuko stated, turning down the proposal politely. "Besides, you're the one who's really trapped here." Yuko started walking towards the man, intent on doing something but Watanuki didn't know what. But at that moment, the man turned around in his swivel chair and held up his hand, snapping his fingers.

The walls exploded, shattering the frames and glass of the collection into a million pieces, and sending up clouds of smoke into the air. Watanuki ducked her head under her arms, but her face got scratched by falling glass before she covered herself. When she peeked up after the explosions, she saw that the room was gone, replaced by and endless white space and a hoard of slippery, wiggly spirits snaking their way towards them. Yuko dodged the first spirits and they whirled around to snap at her again. She side stepped and the fangs of the snake-like spirit sank into the floor, destroying the ground where it hit.

"Doumeki!" Watanuki shouted over the howling of the spirits. "We have to protect Yuko!" _And stay close to her because she knows what she'd doing and I do not! _She added mentally.

Unbeknownst to the trio, the rest of the mansion was being invaded by the different collections housed throughout it, the giant kokeshi dolls popping out of the floor of the spiral room, the drinking birds poking their heads through the tatami mat room, the creepy red and gray stone statues pushing their way through the wood paneled hallway – but they soon found out when all of the collections started showing up where they were. Watanuki got smacked in the face by a male kokeshi doll, knocking her to the ground and Doumeki pushed on away from his and had to brace another against his arm as they surrounded him. Watanuki grabbed her aching face and moaned, and then screamed as a drinking bird was bringing its beak down on the spot she was laying on. The girl somersaulted backwards just in time, the beak of the bird punching a hold in the ground where her hips had been moments before. She sighed, having escaped and then screamed again as the bird came after her, punching holes in the ground where her body parts were. The girl dodged and leapt and wiggled around as the bird's neck became flexible and started trying to snake around her. She dipped and twisted and bent into all sorts of shapes to save herself, frustrating the hell out of the bird. The room was shaking now, starting to fall apart and more and more collections pushed through the ground to attack them. The man in the chair seemed unaffected though, just smiling as the chaos unfolded around him.

Yuko was still advancing on him through, the spirits he sent at her missing every time, blowing her hair this was and that but never touching her. Yuko just brushed some of her wild lock behind her ear as if a nice summer breeze had disturbed her and not hissing spirits. The ceiling of the room crumbled around them, huge chunks of rock crashing to the floor, but Yuko and the man just faced each other, the latter finally getting out of his chair and standing up. The drinking bird was still coming after Watanuki but she'd picked up a chunk of what used to be ceiling and held it up like a shield and the bird embedded its beak into it, now stuck as it tried to free itself. Watanuki smiled triumphantly, but her victory didn't last as the bird whipped its head around and dislodged the debris, smacking it into the girl's face.

"GAH!" The seer shouted, holding her aching face again.

Doumeki was only doing a little bit better as the giant kokeshi dolls assaulted him from all sides. He had both of his hands on two different dolls, the force of their pushing almost breaking his hold on them, but he used their own force against them and spun around one hundred and eighty degrees, letting them fall to the ground as he slipped between them. Another came charging at him and the archer knelt down, catching it on his arm and shoulder before standing up, flipping the doll over his body and onto the ground. And that's where his success ended as an army of the creepy stone statues Watanuki had been scared by marched on him, pushing him back even as he tried to stop them. The statues that weren't dealing with Doumeki were with Watanuki, hoisting the girl up in their arms and carrying her off as she tried to jump out of their hold.

"Stop! Hey! I said quit it!" She screamed, pushing at their hands, but they were unaffected and started walking towards a huge gaping hole that had just broken off from the floor. "What are you doing! Let me go! Let me go! Put me down!" The girl wailed. The statues man handled her hands and feet into the arms of four statues (one for each limb) and the rest started pushing her torso like a swing, turning the whole group so that when they let go, the girl would go flying into the hole and die from yet another perilous drop. They pushed her once, twice, three times and then the girl felt their grip slacken, ready to toss her. She screamed, not knowing whether or not she screamed out a name or just screamed nonsense as the black hole loomed below her. Suddenly (as with most things in the mansion) a giant kokeshi doll rolled through the statues, bowling them over and knocking the raven out of their grip, which was fortunate for her. What was not fortunate was that she had been knocked out over the hole anyway.

"No!" She shrieked, reaching out for the ledge even as she fell. Thankfully, her hand caught, but there wasn't much to hold onto so the girl's grip started to slip. She held on tighter, trying to stop her fall when the worst possible thing happened: the wall crumbled underneath her forceful grip, breaking into little fragments. She had nothing to hold onto! She started to drop, her scream increasing in volume until it cut off by the sudden lurch in her fall. She'd stopped! Hanging over empty space, Watanuki looked up and found Doumeki hanging onto her wrist.

"There's no way I'm letting you fall." He said, hauling the girl up to the ground again. She could've cried over his perfect timing. The girl grabbed the ledge with her free hand and helped pull herself up.

"Thank yo-" She started saying.

"You still owe me a kiss." He finished. That cut off her apology and she didn't feel like finishing it now that she knew his intentions.

"I'll kiss you later, you big, stupid jerk ass!" She hissed. "Is that all you think about?!"

"No. It would be pretty horrible if you did die." He replied as they stood up.

"Why couldn't you just say that from the start!?" She snarled. But they barely had time to argue before another problem presented itself. A ball started rolling towards them and it grew the closer it got. It was the moon from the rice field room, and the rabbit emerged from its surface, mallet and all, looking ready to pound them into dust. The huge creature came at Watanuki first, raising its mallet above its head and bringing it crashing down. The girl scrambled out of the way and looked back in horror at the crate the rabbit had made where her ass used to be. It turned and glared at her. Watanuki screamed again and leapt to her feet. The rabbit swung its mallet horizontality next, barely missing a ducking Doumeki before it swung straight down, missing Doumeki again as he jumped out of the way. The mallet came at Watanuki next and she rolled down to the ground, feeling the rush of air as the hammer passed over her. The rabbit fell over due to the force of its swing and rolled to its feet after hitting the ground, swinging at Doumeki twice. Watanuki leapt up and kicked it in the face to distract it from her boyfriend, but then the creature was coming after her! She screamed and ran away, barely jumping away as the mallet skimmed past her back.

"Noooooooooooo!" She squealed. Having made a perfect distraction, Doumeki used this opportunity to grab the huge moon that the rabbit had come in and got behind it, pushing the ball with all his might and sending it rolling towards the creature and his girlfriend. The seer had tripped and fallen to the ground, crawling back on her elbows as the rabbit advanced on her threateningly, its mallet scraping the ground.

"Kimihiro! Heads up!" Doumeki shouted, drawing the girl's attention. The rabbit's too, but it was too slow and the moon rolled over him as Watanuki barely curled herself away. She scrambled to her feet and ran over to Doumeki, feeling safer if she had someone watching her back. Over the sounds of the collapsing room, the girl heard Yuko speaking, almost to the man who was looking increasingly frustrated and unstable that he couldn't hit or capture the woman advancing on him.

"You may haunt the mansion, but in reality, the mansion now possesses you." The witch's voice took on that mysterious, echo-y quality that it did sometimes, sending shivers up the girl's spine. "Even with all this power that you've gathered over the last hundred years – it doesn't matter how many people's souls you collect, even adding my soul to your collection won't change anything. You're as dammed as those people in the paintings. When I think about that, I almost feel sorry for you, but not quite." The man's expression took on a murderous but at the same time, scared quality as he unleashed another barrage of spirits on the woman, completely clouding out her form even as she tripped a little and caught herself. The cloud of spirits hid her for a moment, before she burst through it, running at the spirit, determination in her eyes. Yuko wasn't scared, but the spirit was, backing away fearfully until he himself tripped, falling to the ground.

"This game ends now!" Yuko said harshly, holding up her gloved hand as if to attack. As she reached the spirit, a bright, shining circle appeared on the floor, enveloping her in a pillar of light and holding her froze in place. She couldn't move, her hair and dress whipped behind her as if she was still running. She'd crossed some kind of seal on the floor, the eye of the seal staring up at her ruefully.

"You fell for it." The spirit chuckled. Yuko's body disappeared, the circle vanishing, but a line of portraits appeared behind the spirit, portraits of some of the collector's he'd gathered, including his newest one. Yuko was painted on a blue background, hand held up like it had been when she was frozen, hanging next to the spoon collector on the insubstantial wall.

"Oh no! it's Yuko!" Watanuki yelled. She and Doumeki were surrounded by the statues and kokeshi dolls again, but they had stopped moving, their job done now that their master had what he wanted. The white room disappeared, replaced by shifting walls of smoke, the only thing visible being the portraits. There weren't even any exits.

"I've finally captured you."The spirit said, standing in front of his newest addition to his collection. "You don't think I'll be satisfied? We'll see about that."

"You let her go!" Watanuki screamed, running at the spirit who'd trapped her friend and employer. A giant flower appeared in front of her as she neared the man, smacking her back and sending her tumbling to the floor. Doumeki ran up and knelt behind the raven, stopping her shoulders before she could roll too far.

"Oh, I almost forgot. I have to get rid of you miserable brats as well." The man looked behind him and stared the pair down with a sickly smile. He started walking towards him, his face holding all sorts of painful promises at causing him so much trouble.

"I found what I was looking for." Yuko's voice came from somewhere in the room, stopping the spirit in his tracks. The Yuko in the painting moved, her hand coming down as she looked out into the room. "I had to get inside your mind in order to obtain what Watanuki had already found." Yuko held up the painting of the little girl in the pink dress, the same painting that Watanuki had already found. You remember now, don't you?" Yuko asked. "_This_ is what you've been looking for all these years. This is what you've truly wanted." The spirit walked back to Yuko, placing his hands on her painting and then dropping his head. His hands slipped through the surface and came around to hold the painting of the girl, pulling it out into reality. He stared at it for a moment before crossing his arms behind the picture, hugging the object and beginning to cry as the walls and ceiling started to crumble again.

Outside, the mansion started to crumble, the patchwork architecture dissolving and crashing to the ground and then disappeared, leaving behind a much smaller, but no less grand house in its wake, surrounded by a huge, grass covered yard. The spirit's malicious intent was gone, leaving behind a peaceful sense of normalcy and a bright morning. Watanuki and Doumeki were outside, staring up at the sky and the trees of the mountains surrounding them, the backside of the mansion in front of them.

"The mansion's changed!" Watanuki exclaimed. The spirit man was kneeling on the ground by the left back corner of the house, still holding the painting. He didn't look like he was going to do anything, but the girl had learned never to be too careful and watched him like a hawk. While doing so, she saw something out of the corner of her eye and whipped her head around, seeing Yuko standing at the other corner. "You got out!" She shouted, leaping to her feet and running over to the woman. "Are you alright?!" When she rounded the corner, the girl saw an old woman in a wheelchair next to Yuko. "Huh? Who is this old lady?"

"I wish I knew how to thank you for what you've done," The old woman started. She looked familiar somehow, her faded brown hair cut short, her soft blue eyes striking a cord with the raven. She was wearing a yellow dress with a white ruffled collar and the huge pink bow that also seemed familiar, but Watanuki just couldn't quite place why. "You have granted my only wish." She bowed to Yuko respectfully.

"I have to warn you, he's still a little lost inside himself." Yuko said, pulling out the golden key the young lady had given her back at the shop. "Here, I thought you'd might like to have this back." Okay, now Watanuki was really confused. _Wasn't that key given to Yuko by that young lady at the shop? Then why is she trying to give it to this old woman? _The old lady looked at it and then shook her head.

"No thank you. I don't think I'll be needing it now." She said. Yuko smiled at her. The old lady then turned her wheelchair to the right and started to roll herself over to the man kneeling on the grass. When she reached him, stopped. "Excuse me, young man…do you remember who I am?" The man looked up at gazed at the woman a moment before his eyes widened, filling with tears. To everyone else, she was an old woman, but to him, she was still a young girl wearing her favorite pink dress, her brown hair long like she used to have it. They had said goodbye at this very mansion, and he'd promised her that he'd make a collection that no one else had ever had, prompting her to keep expanding her own bean bag collection. It had been a sorrowful parting as she'd valiantly tried not to cry. She'd promised to come back someday when she was all grown up, as long as he'd promise to watch over the house and in return he promised that they'd meet again one day…and now they had.

"I've missed you." He said, throwing his head into her lap, not even trying to hold back his tears. Her hand came up and stroked his head softly.

"I can't tell you how much I've missed you. I'm sorry I stayed away so long." She apologized. "I bought back the house like I said I would but the key wouldn't work and I couldn't get back inside."

"Somewhere along the line, I forgot the reason behind my collection…I was keeping it for you to see, to show you that I'd kept my promise…I became lost in it. I'm so sorry."

"I think it's finally time to let go of your collection." The old woman said. "It's been long enough."

"You're right." He nodded.

"Still, I'm so glad you remember me, So much time has passed and I've gotten very old."

"To me, you haven't changed at all." He replied, looking up and still seeing the smiling face of the young girl he used to know. "I still see you as you were the day you left." The little girl smiled at him.

"I'm home." She said.

"Welcome back." He replied.

"We can be together forever, right?"

"Yes. You can stay forever." The door to the mansion opened behind them, bathing the pair in bright light before they walked inside, hand in hand, the door shutting behind them all by itself.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

They found an inn on the other side of the lake, across from where the mansion sat, because Yuko decided that they should all get some relaxation time after their adventure. Watanuki agreed with her this time…the only problem was that Yuko had only gotten then two rooms with a kitchen, so she'd either be sleeping with Yuko and Mokona and Doumeki got a whole room to himself, or she'd be sleeping with Doumeki because Yuko was devious and pushy. Well…Yuko _and_ Mokona if she thought about it hard enough. At least there were three futons. The possibility that Yuko would sleep in the same room as Doumeki never crossed her mind because that was just to weird to think about.

Yuko was the first to take a bath, shoving everyone else out of the way even though Watanuki and Doumeki had done most of the running around. When the witch emerged with her newly washed hair and body clad in a light pink yukata, she took a seat by the open window and fanned herself on the ledge, leaning against the door. Watanuki then took her turn in the bath, shoving Doumeki out of the way much like her employer had and slammed the door shut before he snuck in with her. Despite wanting to soak for just about forever, Watanuki rinsed and washed herself before letting herself soak in the water for a short time. Then she got out so Doumeki could take a bath and put on her own pink yukata. She came out of the bathroom still drying her hair with a towel and then twisting it up in the cloth so that it was out of her face. It looked like she was wearing a turban when she was done.

"I'm exhausted!" Mokona said, finally reappearing after a night and a morning of being absent, flopping down by the window with Yuko.

"What are you exhausted!? You did nothing the whole time!" Watanuki snapped, coming in the room behind the fur ball. Watanuki looked out the window and gazed at the mansion, just like Yuko was. "What do you think will become of that mansion now that it's not haunted anymore?" She asked.

"The old woman has decided to turn it into a museum." Yuko answered. "She's going to be its curator." Watanuki took a seat at the Western table and chair in the room, still looking out of the window.

"Will she be able to handle it all by herself?"

"Don't worry. The collectors that were freed offered to help her, they even wanted to donate to the museum."

"I guess that the mansion won't be closed up anymore, will it?" Watanuki sighed, leaning back in her chair. "Still, I had no idea that the girl at the mansion, and the young lady who came to your shop, were spirit projections of that old lady. All I saw were both young girls.

"I guess that that is the disadvantage to your sight…" Yuko stated. "Once you see the spirit of something, it's very difficult to see the form it takes around other people." She paused, as if lost in thought. Watanuki poured them both a cup of tea from the set on the table. "There was a moment there where I was going to turn her away. But then, somehow, I felt a connection to her…like she was feeling something I'd felt long ago." Watanuki stopped drinking and looked at her boss, surprised at where the conversation had gone.

"I've never heard you talk about your past before, Yuko…were you in love once? Was your heart ever broken?" She asked, curious as to what Yuko's life had been before she owned the shop, or if she'd always lived there.

"You want to know?" Yuko turned from the window and stared at the girl with her deep, cranberry colored eyes, as if daring her to ask. Watanuki didn't know what that look might entail for compensation, but she wanted to know anyway and nodded, her curiosity burning. But before Yuko could speak, Mokona jumped up, its eyes wide, its blue jewel glowing.

"I have an urgent message from Syaoran!" The creature said.

"Oh, I haven't heard from them in a while." Yuko said. Syaoran and his group of dimension travelers were people that Yuko were helping, granting their individual wishes as a group venture. Watanuki didn't get to see where they were going to what they were doing often, so this was almost as intriguing as Yuko's love life. Mokona jumped up onto the window ledge and its jewel started projecting an image in a circle of light. A brunette boy with brown eyes and two girls appeared in the image, one with short blonde hair and green eyes and the other with long black hair and blue eyes. The blonde girl was Sakura, if Watanuki was remembering correcting, but the other girl was unfamiliar to the seer.

"Yuko! It's me! I need help to save the Land of Birds!" Syaoran said, his voice a little desperate. "I have to find a way to open a magic bird cage in order to save this place!"

"So, basically you need a key, is that right?" Yuko said, reaching into her yukata sleeve. Watanuki stared at her, seeing exactly where this conversation was going amazingly enough. "Well, I think I have just the thing to help you." She did in fact, as Watanuki had guessed, hold up the key to the mansion, its gold surface shining in the sunlight. "This key recently came into my possession," _Well, that's an understatement! The old lady just gave it to you not an hour ago! _"It can open anything you wish."

"Thank you, Yuko." Syaoran's head dipped in a bow.

"I assume that you remember I require compensation, Syaoran?" Yuko prompted, getting her price.

"I don't think I have anything to give you." He replied. _Then they're sunk! Yuko never gives up anything without getting something in return. She'd call it balance but I'd call it manipulation, _Watanuki grumbled to herself.

"What about this?" The black haired girl asked, holding up a small, tinkling bell. "Will this work, Yuko?"

"In order to be equal in worth, this thing must be important to you." Yuko guessed. "This bell must be more than it seems. I accept. Mokona." She called to her companion. Mokona opened its mouth and swallowed the key as Yuko tossed it in, and then tossed out the bell into Yuko's hands. Syaroan was now holding the key in his hands. "Use it well…and good luck." The image disappeared and Mokona returned to its normal, lazy self. Yuko slipped the magenta strap of the small, white bell onto her finger, ringing the object as she looked at its blue flower designs.

"This bell really is quite lovely. Watanuki," She started, turning to the girl. "Maybe I can use it from now on whenever I want to call you." The raven gaped at her boss, but then the door slid open and Doumeki walked out, drying his hair off and draping the towel across his shoulders as he went to sit on a cushion at the Japanese style table in the center of the room.

"Well you sure were in the bath a long time!" She snapped, more irritated at Yuko than him, but the girl didn't dare take out her frustration on the woman controlling her life. Just as she was about to go rag on him again, Wari followed the archer in, wearing a cute, green button up that matched his eyes and tan slacks that fit perfectly on his legs. The whole ensemble had Watanuki beaming at the cuteness as her classmate came in and sat down.

"Waaaaaarriiiii!~" The girl sang, completely surprised by the boy's sudden appearance.

"Hi, Watanuki!" Wari smiled and greeting the girl. "It's good to see you!" Before Watanuki could say anything else, Wari was running off to the window. "What a gorgeous view! Thank you, Yuko! It was so nice of you to invite me!" Watanuki stared at Yuko in shock. She never did things this nice!

"Oh it's my pleasure, and I know Watanuki is happy to see you. She's the reason I asked you to come."

"Oh! Thank you, Yuko!~" Watanuki beamed, running over to the woman and taking her hand. "I have never been happier to be your mistreated servant than I am right now!"

"And Doumeki as well." Yuko continued.

"Yo." Doumeki raised his hand in a second greeting (since he'd met the other man outside already).

"Well, alright then!" Yuko yanked a huge bottle of sake out from someplace Watanuki never wanted to mention again and set it in her lap, popping the cork out and lovingly stoking the glass. "Now that all the work's done, it's time for sake!"

"Hey…" Watanuki said, looking at the label on the bottle. She recognized the label now, as Yuko poured herself a glass. "Wasn't that in a room at the mansion…?"

"A gift from the old woman as compensation for granting her wish." Yuko said, gazing lovingly at her next buzz. "And now…I just need to think of a way to have you thank me for inviting Wari over. There's so much to choose from…" Yuko turned her devil gaze on the seer. She quailed under that look, terrified at what Yuko _could_ make her do.

"Oh, just tell me. The suspense will kill me." The girl grumbled. Yuko held up her new bell and jingled it.

"Let's see, I've got my sake…now I think we need snacks! I asked the staff to stock the fridge while you were in the bath!~"

"Do I look like a cook to you!?" The girl gaped at having work shoved on her when they were supposed to be _relaxing_.

"Oh, please Watanuki! I just love your cooking!" Wari asked.

"Of course, Wari!~ Whatever you want!~" The girl sang, grabbing the apron that Yuko had packed in her tote bag and putting it on, pullign her hair out of its turban and up into her customary pony tail

"How about you make us up a sashimi platter?" Doumeki asked, sipping his own cup of tea.

"I don't remember asking for your order!" Watanuki snarled.

"Sashimi sounds great!" Wari said.

"Of course! I'm on it right now!" The raven replied.

"Don't forget the wasabi." Doumeki added.

"Why do you make it then!? Here's my apron!" Watanuki held it out to him.

"I love wasabi!" Wari smiled.

"I'm on it!"

Yuko smiled at the antics going on behind her and looked out the window again, holding up her glass to the mansion across the water from her.

"Here's to a beautiful view." She said, taking a drink to an accomplished venture.

The day progressed much in that fashion, and Watanuki didn't have to make dinner because Yuko ordered it (the kitchen was just not big enough for the woman to exploit her servant's talents to the fullest) so the early repast was order-free for once. Wari ended up leaving early in the evening to travel back to his aunt's house, since it wasn't too far from where they were – just a short bus ride – much to Watanuki's disappointment but as soon as the charming young man left, she felt the previous day and extremely long night crash down on her. She was dead tired, and that was Yuko's signal to stop partying and drinking and go to bed, because now she couldn't make Watanuki do anything without a massive amount of complaining and groaning that was more irritating that entertaining. So after polishing off her third bottle of sake, Yuko whipped out a futon set and walked into the kitchen room because it was bigger and if she needed a midnight snack, they're be no one to stop her, leaving Doumeki in the smaller of the two rooms. Doumeki grabbed one of the remaining two futon sets and set up his bed for the night in the single room, fluffing his pillow and watching his girlfriend out of the corner of his eye. Having been dreading this moment all day because she didn't know where to sleep (or where she'd be forced to sleep), Watanuki reached for the last futon.

However, she was beaten to the punch by Mokona.

"This one's mine!" The fur ball laughed, dragging the bed out of its cupboard and hopping into Yuko's room before Watanuki had the chance to snag it.

"Hey! Mokona! Get back here! That's my futon!" Watanuki snarled, crawling after the pork bun.

"I got it first! And I need my beauty sleep!" Mokona replied, setting up its bed in a flash and jumping onto the pillow.

"You can just use Yuko's pillow! You don't need a whole bed!" Watanuki argued.

"Watanuki," Yuko interrupted, her voice mischievously smooth, "Just because Mokona isn't as big as you, doesn't mean that Mokona should go without a bed!" She continued mockingly.

"But that fur ball always sleeps with one of us! Even if I don't like it!" Watanuki shot back, pointing out the fact that Mokona had never needed a whole bed before.

"Well, Mokona wants a whole bed tonight, so it looks like you'll just have to share!~" Yuko flapped her hand at the girl, gesturing for her to go to Doumeki. "Gooooood niiiiiiight!~" She sang, sliding the door shut and closing off the two rooms and effectively ending the agreement with no room for discussion.

"Damn pork bun…I'm going to cook you some day!" She hissed. Watanuki started blushing, refusing to look away from the door that had just been closed in her face. If she looked behind her, she was going to find her boyfriend being extremely perverted, she just knew it. The silence in the wake of the argument lasted for a few moments and Watanuki knew that Yuko and Mokona had their ears plastered to the door, trying to hear every gory detail and that made Watanuki's blood rush under her skin a little faster. She still hadn't gotten used to being with Doumeki in settings like this, not since the Demon Parade thing where she'd gotten the shock of her life waking up next to him. She hadn't even handled last night at the mansion very well. This was a huge mess, and knowing Doumeki, he was staring at her for being awkward and waiting for her to do something, but all she could do was clench her hands on top of her knees and stare at the door, hoping that it would open again. But it didn't, and she knew that she'd be spending the night in Doumeki's bed. He still hadn't said anything, surprisingly enough, so maybe…even if was a long shot…maybe he was already asleep. She wouldn't know unless she looked, because asking him might wake him up if he really was asleep.

The raven decided to chance it and peeked behind her.

Doumeki was lying on one side of the futon, resting his head on his upturned hand, elbow resting on his pillow. _I knew he wouldn't be asleep, _Watanuki sighed mentally. The archer reached for the blanket covering him and held up it up, a clear gesture.

"Get in already. I'm tired." Doumeki said.

"Don't act so calm about this!" Watanuki whined, her blush deepening.

"What's the big deal? We've shared a futon before." Doumeki pointed out.

"It is a big deal! And I was unconscious for most of it!" Watanuki grumbled back.

"And you'll be unconscious for most of this time too." He yawned, his exhaustion starting to show. "We're not doing anything besides sleeping, okay?" She could just sleep on the floor, but that wouldn't be comfortable in the least and it would really hurt Doumeki's feelings. As reassuring as that last statement had sounded, something else started bothering the girl, even as she crawled over to futon, sliding under the blanket and turning her back on Doumeki, not looking at him even once. He let the blanket drop over both of them and brought his other arm underneath the covers as well, sighing as Watanuki resolutely kept a good half a foot in between then.

"Watanuki, seriously, I'm not going to do anything." The man sighed, a little peeved that his girlfriend was being so squirrelly and untrusting. It bruised his ego a bit.

"It's not that…" She started, completely trusting Doumeki's words at this point (let's face it, he really wouldn't do anything that she didn't want), but…there was something that she had to do.

"What is it?" He asked, wanting to get everything out before they went to sleep otherwise this would be a really awkward night.

Watanuki rolled around and scooted closer, diminishing the half-foot gap between them and bringing her upper hand to cup his cheek. Surprised but not showing it, the archer held still as his girlfriend reached her head up and softly pressed her lips against his. She tipped her head into the pillow for a better angle as he started to kiss back, ever so softly moving his lips as his own arm came up to wrap around her shoulders. The kiss continued to be gentle as the quiet moments dragged on, Watanuki's hand coming down from Doumeki's face to rest of his neck, wrapping around his broad back as much as it could. The explanation came when they broke for air.

"I owe you a kiss…" She started, pulling away from his lips. "Several in fact, since we're no longer surrounded by butterfly heads." Doumeki remembered that she had promised to make out with him "later" after he tried kissing her in the mansion.

"So you do." He whispered, beginning to place soft pecks on her cheek, eye and nose.

"As payment…" She gasped as he made his way down to her neck and kissed the sensitive spot near her ear. "For helping me."

"I think Yuko would approve." The archer replied, kissing that spot again as Watanuki arced into his chest.

"She'd better not be watching." Watanuki brought her hand up to stroke Doumeki's hair as he continued to kiss her neck and collarbone, pulling her yukata off her shoulder just a bit to do it. Doumeki peeked up and saw the door cracked open the tiniest bit before softly sliding shut again. He didn't tell Watanuki. "Watch it." The seer hissed as she felt her robe start to slip off her shoulder a little more than she liked. Being good, Doumeki slipped her yukata back into place and came back to her lips, capturing her mouth in a much more heated embrace.

Watanuki opened up her mouth to him, giving Doumeki exactly what he wanted. The man pressed his tongue into her mouth, coaxing hers to play as he delved as deep as he could. Watanuki moaned and brushed her tongue against his, her lips suckling lightly as the kiss became a little messier, a little wetter. When they pulled apart to breath next, it was Watanuki who kissed back first, was licking at his bottom lip, silently asking to come in. Doumeki opened his mouth again and let her in, brushing his tongue against hers as she explored his mouth. He pulled her close, pressing her right up against his chest and torso so there wasn't any space between them. Watanuki's top arm came around under his, her hand gripping at his back, bunching his yukata in her fist. They continued to kiss until Watanuki's arm went a little slack, her fatigue beginning to show and Doumeki was in the same shape, as much as he wanted to continue. He broke their last heated kiss and delicately nipped on her top lip, placing soft, open mouth kisses on her cheek and forehead as they both settled down to sleep. Watanuki sighed into his touched, curling her head into his chest, feeling safe under his arm.

"Good night, Kimihiro." Doumeki whispered, kissing the top of her head as she settled into him.

"'night, Shizuka." She whispered back, his name tapering off as she started to drift into sleep.

Within minutes, both of them were asleep, the horrendous adventure of the mansion far behind them as they dreamed contently in each other's arms. There would probably be a ton of teasing waiting for them in the morning, but for now, this peace was priceless.

To Be Continued...

A/N: And there you go! I'll see you all later and don't forget to let me know what you think! :3


	16. The Spider's Web and The Grudge

A/N: ZareEraz here! I know its been foooooooooooooorever since I last updated this story and I'm so sorry about that! In apology, I have a huge, juicy chapter for everyone so I hope that you enjoy reading it! Let me know what you think (as always) in the review section and I will try to pump out some more updates as quick as I can! Happy Reading!

Chapter Thirteen: The Spider's Web and The Grudge

Watanuki was walking down the street on the way to school on a normal day. Well, it was sort of normal. She could see everything out of her left eye perfectly – the sky and the walls of the houses on the street, even Wari, who was walking in front of her – but her right eye was all black and cloudy, unable to see anything. Her vision was split right down the middle and at the time, she didn't really think anything was wrong and just ran up to her classmate and started talking with the cute boy.

"Waaaaaariiiiiii!~" The girl called, catching up to her friend. Wari turned and smiled, his short curls bouncing as he started talking. Watanuki couldn't hear a word he was saying, and that's when she knew that something was wrong. "What?" She asked, but it seemed that Wari couldn't hear her either and just kept smiling and talking. And then suddenly, the image of Wari was replaced by a ceiling on the left side of her vision, and pitch blackness on the right. She'd opened her eyes and was staring up at Yuko's ceiling. "What?" She asked again, wondering why she couldn't see properly. And that's when the girl noticed that she had a guest in her room.

Mokona was plastered to her face, its whole body hugging her nose and right eye and ear as it slept on top of her. The girl tried to get her bearings for a moment, still hanging between sleep and wakefulness and blinked a few times in the dim morning light. And after that, she pounced.

"So it was your fault!" The irritated girl shouted, ripping the pork bun off of her face and glaring at it with her blurry vision. Mokona's huge eyes popped open wide for a moment, giving the creature a creepy appearance, before slowly closing again and its whole body falling limp in the seer's hands. "Don't just fall asleep again!" But of course, Mokona never listened to her and just kept on sleeping. Watanuki sighed and stared at the fur ball with a frustrated expression on her face. "For God's sake, I was forced to have a strange dream with this loser clinging to my face….But I saw Wari in my dream!~" The girl dissolved into smiles and giggles as she thought about her former crush (still crushing apparently). "Ha, ha! Today's going to be a great day if I saw Wari already!"

"Great…day…" Mokona mumbled in its sleep. Just then, Maru and Moro slid open the doors to Watanuki's home-away-from-home and started calling for her in their chipper voices.

"Watanuki!~" Maru started.

"Watanuki!~" Moro repeated.

"It's breakfast time!~" They sang together, dancing into the spacious room.

"Breakfast time!?" Mokona was all ears now, woken up by the call of food.

"Breakfast time!~ Breakfast time!~" The twins ran over to Watanuki's futon and each took a side, Maru picking up the mattress and Mokona taking the blanket. The raven was tossed out of bed unceremoniously as they ripped the ground out from underneath her and the warmth of the blanket off of her lap and hit the floor hard, completing her wake-up. Mokona jumped high into the air, avoiding Watanuki's spectacular double flip before landing on the face-down girl's gracefully.

"I got it! I got it!" Watanuki shouted, sitting up and throwing Mokona off of her. Having done their job, Maru and Moro threw the bedding on the floor for Watanuki to clean up and danced out of the room singing about breakfast. Mokona followed them, chanting for food as well, leaving the girl with an aching face, a grumbled disposition and a bad case of bed head. By the time the raven got herself pulled together, Yuko was calling for breakfast as well, having already been up and dressed (and flamboyantly for so early in the morning) for about ten minutes before her little slave made it to the kitchen. And then by the time the raven actually had breakfast ready…Yuko was distracted by the TV in the living room. As Watanuki served the food at the low table, Yuko munched on bowl of rice, her eyes glued to the screen talking about an exorcism reality TV show.

_"__This young girl is the spiritual seer that is currently the talk of the town, Kohane." _The male host started. The TV showed a picture of a young girl with long pale hair standing in a dim grove of some sort, her light colored dress and pale skin standing out in the darkness.

_"__She really is a pretty young thing." _The female hostess commented.

_"__But don't be fooled by her looks." _The male host went on. _"__In a Kanagawa hospital, Kohane was able to expel all the ghosts that had been plaguing the area all by herself!" _This little narration was interrupted by Mokona's munching, stuffing its face with Watanuki's perfectly fried tamagoyaki. Yuko daintily picked at her rice, careful not to get any on her black dress with a red little embroidered across the torso. She'd paired the elegant attire with a huge, real red lily over her left ear and had pulled up her hair into a messy bun of sorts, long pieces of hair cascading out of it tastefully.

_"__I can't believe it-" _And then the channel was changed, flipping thought a weather channel, and a sports channel before finally clicking off. Yuko, Mokona, Maru and Moro all "ohhed" in surprise and then looked at Watanuki, finding her the culprit.

"Hey!" Yuko complained.

"You should've watch TV during meals." The girl stated simply, fixing her headscarf and picking up her own bowl of rice. "And besides, wasn't I telling you something more important than the television?"

"And what was that?" Mokona and Yuko asked, both tipping their heads, not having bother to pay attention to the seer.

"Wari! I was talking about Wari!" Watanuki growled, irritated at having been ignored…_again_.

"Ah." Yuko replied.

"Just 'ah!?'" Watanuki retorted.

"Well, it looks like something very unfortunate is going to happen then." The witch gave Watanuki one of her ambiguously wicked smiles (even if it was kind of undermined by the grains of rice stuck to her chin).

"What?" Watanuki looked at the women with confusion written all over her face. She dropped the rice scoop in shock. "But I had a dream about Wari and he had a huge smile on his face!" _How could that be bad!? _

"I know I've told you before, Watanuki, but Wari isn't exactly your lucky guy." Yuko reminded the girl.

"Bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-but-" Watanuki studdered, still confused at to why seeing Wari in a dream was a bad thing. While she was stuttering, Mokona walked across the table and stole her bowl of rice right out of her hand, muttering, "Geez, what does someone have to do to get food around this place!" before walking back to its spot.

"What Wari is so cute!" Watanuki argued, not even noticing the missing bowl of rice.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Yuko argued back.

"Just by looking at him, I can feel the happiness in my overflowing!" Watanuki struck a powerful pose, completely convinced of her ex-crush's goodness and beauty.

"She said it! She did!" Maru and Moro cheered.

"Oooooo," Yuko commented. "I wonder if Wari feels the same what you do." Mokona join in on the last part and they sniggered to themselves, knowing that he didn't. Watanuki's entire body fell, nearly sending her to the floor in depressed mortification of the reality of her one-sided affection.

"Watanuki's crushed!" Maru and Moro cheered again.

"That aside," Yuko continued. "This breakfast is delicious, Watanuki. Even though it's only breakfast, there's so much food ! Now if only we had some sake to make it even better-"

"No freaking way!" Watanuki snapped, still peeved at the woman for her making her depressed. The witched picked up Mokona in her hand and held the other over her mouth, having a hush hush conversation with her companion.

"Oh dear, she's really upset."

"Upset!" Mokona agreed.

"Just because she's not that popular!"

"She gets all worked up!" Mokona finished. Watanuki could still hear the whispers (they weren't trying to hide them) and each word just twisted the knife a little deeper, making her more irritated and volatile.

"You can only have two cups of sake for dinner tonight!" Watanuki declared, leaping to her feet, trying to make Yuko feel the way she was.

"You monster!" The pair shouted.

By the time Watanuki made it out of the shop she was all riled up and even more irritated than when she started being irritated. The girl stomped down the street, muttering to herself. "I even slept over to make breakfast just for them and that's how I'm treated?! And on top of that Mokona made me have that strange dream _and_ I got teased by Yuko! Damn!" It was at that moment that the girl paused in her stomping and looked at where she was. "This is Doumeki's house, right?" On her walk to school, she had ended up passing by Doumeki's temple, the grounds quiet and devoid of patrons in the early morning. It was truly a beautiful place, so serene and majestic compared to the houses around it. The girl paused and thought about checking up on her boyfriend, but then decided against it. He'd just try to snack on their bentos early and bug her and he probably wasn't even there anyway.

"He's probably already left for morning training at the archery club," She reasoned, finding an excuse to keep walking to school. "So there's no reason for me to stop." The girl started on her way again when a voice called out to her.

"Oi." She stopped dead in her tracks, her irritation returning in full force as she noticed that Doumeki was standing right behind the gate.

"He's here!" She yelped. "Today of all days…" She muttered, whirling around and shouting at her boyfriend. "And how many times do I have to tell you that I have a name and it's not, 'oi!?'"

"Perfect timing." Doumeki replied, ignoring his girlfriend's high-strung antics so early in the morning. Really, she was a pain. "Help me out." He continued, holding up a dust pan and broom for the girl. He'd been sweeping the grounds when she passed by, still in a casual gi top and pants he always wore for chores.

"Would you listen when someone talks to you!?" Watanuki yelled, incredibly mad now at having been ignored for the millionth time by that bastard. But somehow (probably with the use of black magic) Watanuki ended up helping Doumeki clean the ground, picking up trash and the last of the fall leaves blow around by the wind with her tongs and garbage bag. But she also made sure to keep grumbling about being held up on the way to school, and how she was so gracious to help him out with his chores.

"But you would've made it to school on time even if you had left later, right? So what's the big deal?" Doumeki asked, sweeping off the main path.

"I did come from Yuko's shop, so I guess it would've been fine." Watanuki shrugged. "It's closer to school."

"It is?" Doumeki asked, turning to look at the girl. She was bending over to get some paper and her skirt was riding up, almost giving him a peek at what color of panties she was wearing today – but not quite.

"What?" Watanuki asked, confused that he didn't know where the shop was. "You've been there before; When Yuko asked you to pick me up." It had been during the incident with the specter woman who'd made Watanuki sick. Doumeki had taken her to the temple after having grabbed her from the shop.

"When?" He asked, pausing in his sweeping as the girl stood up, covering her butt once again.

"When I collapsed at Yuko's shop." Watanuki went back to picking up leaves and stray garbage.

"Shop?" Doumeki wondered, thinking about when he'd picked the girl up. He hadn't seen any shop.

"What is it now?" The raven asked.

"Nothing really." The archer replied. Watanuki started to wander off again but Doumeki still had a question. "What's in today's lunch." And he swore the girl leapt to his spot ten feet away in a single jump, just to get mad in his face.

"It's a squid dish!" She yelled. "You were the one who told me to make it, weren't you!?" She flipped out, her fangs showing as she shouted at the brunette, her arms flailing around. Suddenly, her right arm was caught in something, her hand and tongs getting tangled up in a spider's web.

"Ah!" Startled, she struggled to free herself from the sticky mess, half way pulling the web down out of the tree it hung in.

"A spider's web?" Doumeki mused, watching the girl for a second before stepping in. "Watch where you're flailing, idiot."

"Who's the idiot here?!" Watanuki growled, stomping her foot.

"Stop squirming, you'll only make it worse." The archer replied, putting his arm into the air. He hooked the spider web with his broom handle and tugged on it firmly, pulling the web down and letting it fall around them like silver rain, freeing the girl from its ensnarement. After freeing the raven, he turned and walked away to finish his chores. "You really are an idiot." Watanuki's face screwed up, a cross vein appearing on her forehead as she ran after the jerk.

"You've said that twice now! Stop it!" She yelled. "Just who's the idiot here?!"

As the pair walked (or stomped, in Watanuki's case) away, they were unaware of the menace behind them, hanging down from the tree were the web had been. A lone spider dangled on its web, eight red eyes watched the monster that'd destroyed its home and held a grudge deep in its heart.

_Good God, meeting Doumeki on the way to school today…it really is just as Yuko said! I'm unlucky and always will be! _Watanuki grumbled to herself during lunch time, her angry face even more angrier than normal.

"Is something wrong, Watanuki?" Wari asked, dragging the girl's attention back to their lovely picnic lunch outside. He was holding up a bento lunch for her to take a bite, a concerned look on his face.

"Not at all!" The raven blushed and reached out her chopsticks to take a meatball. _But since I get to eat Wari's homemade bento today, I guess I'm not that unlucky! Good things can happen too! _"Itadakimasu!" The seer thanked her friend for the food before popping it in her mouth, chewing enthusiastically before breaking out into an even bigger smile. "Wow! That was delicious! That's Wari for you!"

"It's something I bought at the store." Wari replied, his ever-present smile still there. Watanuki froze, the rest of her praise caught in her throat, a sweatdrop rolling down the back of her head.

"But you're the one who warmed it up, right Wari-?"

"That was my mom." Wari kept smiling, leaving the girl at a loss of what to say. She flopped on the ground and rolled around frustrated and in one of her wiggly moods as she tried to come up with an appropriate response.

"Why are you getting friendly with the ground?" Another voice asked, watching the girl perform her usual antics. It was Doumeki.

"I was not!" Watanuki's head snapped up and she snarled at her boyfriend. He was looking down at her from his considerable height, but something was wrong with his face. The more Watanuki stared at it the more she noticed that it looked just ever so slightly pinched – his brows, eyes and mouth. He looked uncomfortable, but not enough to warrant the worry of someone who couldn't read his face like Watanuki could. As she was looking, Doumeki's hand came up and he rubbed his right eye a few times with the heel of it.

"What's wrong?" Watanuki asked, sitting up.

"Nothing. Probably just dust in my eye." Doumeki replied, his voice and face back to normal. He sat down next to his classmates and crossed his legs in his usual fashion.

"Geez, don't act so delicate." Watanuki scoffed. "It doesn't fit you."

"So, where's the squid dish?" Doumeki ignored his girlfriend and started looking for his request.

"Why don't you listen to me when I'm talking to you!?" Watanuki's fangs came out but she was ignored once again, the jab accompanied by Wari's cute laugh. _Damn bastard, why do I like him again!? _

Watanuki pouted for the rest of lunch, refusing to eat anything but Wari's (store-bought) cooking, so Doumeki claimed the rest of her lunch along with his own. The rest of the day passed by normally, but something pricked Watanuki's consciousness and wouldn't leave her alone. Doumeki's face…Doumeki's face rarely showed emotion…and it never showed discomfort for himself, only others. It was something that had the raven just the tiniest bit worried, but not enough to, you know, _express_ concern over. Doumeki was fine, he had to be. Watanuki dismissed the whole subject from her mind.

However, the issue did not dismiss itself. It fact, it came to a head on the way home from school.

"Damn, it's just us again," Watanuki whined, slumping as she walked down the street. The sun was well on its way to setting, and she was Doumeki were walking by themselves, no Wari in sight. But Doumeki wasn't making a comment on how she should be glad to walk home with her boyfriend, so Watanuki kept whining. "Waaaaarrriiii! I wanted o go home with you!" Doumeki was holding the right side of his face in his hand, his expression taking on the pinched, painful look it had earlier, only more so. After she'd finished wailing, Watanuki noticed this, her earlier concern popping up again.

"What's wrong?" She turned to look at the archer. "You still have dust or something stuck in your eye?" Doumeki stopped in his tracks, and the seer stopped too, her concern growing.

"It wasn't dust." The man replied. He stood still for a moment, and Watanuki just watched him carefully. Doumeki's right foot moved just a little bit, as if to check his balance, but then he collapsed, falling to his knees, his free hand letting go of his bag and hitting the pavement to catch himself.

"Oi! Doumeki!" Watanuki shouted, shocked. She knelt down to the ground, her hand on the archer's shoulder as he sat up slowly, kneeling on the ground.

"My eye won't open." He stated, his hand still clutching his face.

"What?" Watanuki breathed, her mind instantly trying to jump to a solution. _Okay, his eye won't open. Who can fix that? A doctor! _It took less than a second, but she was on her feet, looking around for which way they needed to go to get Doumeki to a hospital. This was a new experience, being so intimately concerned for Doumeki. Up until that point in her life, Watanuki hadn't needed – or wanted – anyone to look after her. She didn't really care about her own safety, but now she was almost desperate to help her boyfriend. "A hospital! They can-"

"I don't think this is anything a hospital can fix." Doumeki interrupted the raven, instinctively knowing what was wrong.

"And why is that?!" Watanuki snapped back, frustrated at his lack of urgency. Doumeki pulled his hand away and the girl gasped as she saw the damage to his eye, her own eyes wide in shock. It looked like a spider's web was stretched across the right side of his face, the center of it looking as if it was sewing Doumeki's eye shut.

"That's…" Watanuki whispered, almost fearful of the mark on his face. Doumeki covered it up again, looking like he was in a little pain.

"I've never heard of and illness where a web-like thing attaches to you and you can't open your eye."

"Why are you so calm?!" Watanuki shouted, frantic and panicked enough for the both of them. _He can't open his eye, for god's sake! We can't go to a hospital or doctor and yet he's so composed! _And then her brain hit upon something: if the cause was supernatural, she knew right where to go. "I know! Yuko might know something about this! Let's go to the shop!" Watanuki grabbed Doumeki's hand and started pulling, trying to get him to his feet.

"That's impossible." He replied. The girl stopped pulling and Doumeki yanked his arm back.

"But…why?" She didn't get his behavior at all. He should be panicked and scared and wanting to find help right away…and yet, _she_ was the one doing all of that. This was all backwards, all of it.

"I cannot enter Yuko's shop." Doumeki stated, his one eye hard as he looked at the girl. That look meant that the discussion had ended. Doumeki couldn't (or wouldn't) enter Yuko's shop, and therefore he wouldn't get any answers for himself. "I'm going home."

"Home?!" Watanuki shouted, disbelieving his attitude. "At a time like this!? We need to get you help!"

"I'm going home." Doumeki stated again, standing up on wobbly feet. The raven knew that he had made up his mind to go home and when Doumeki made up his mind, nothing was going to stop him.

The seer didn't know what to do, she knew that Yuko would have an answer for her, even if Doumeki wouldn't come to the shop. She would ask for him…even if he didn't want her to. The girl bottled up her plan and helped Doumeki to his feet, gathering up their school bags and walking to the temple. The whole trip was silent, neither speaking and the seer felt her boyfriend in the temple, walking him up to the doors, but not going in herself. She had her job to go to, he knew that much, but everything else she was going to do…well…he didn't need to know about that until she had a solution of some sort. Yuko would know what to do, she always did. The second Doumeki was in the temple and out of sight, Watanuki ran towards the shop, her irrational fear and worry making her legs move at nearly unearthly speeds. She dashed down the street, around the corner, up a couple of streets and around another corner and down a few more blocks, until the shop's fence came into sight. The girl nearly leapt the entire walkway in her haste, threw open the doors, kicked her shoes off and dropped her bag unceremoniously on the floor. Down the hall she ran in her stockinged feet and around the corner to Yuko's receiving room, knowing she'd be there at this hour. Watanuki slid open the doors, startling the twins (who were reading their favorite book – A City with No People) and interrupting Yuko's manga reading time (as the witch was lounging on her couch and peeked out from behind Macaroni Horenso).

"Yuko! Doumeki's eye won't open!" Watanuki exclaimed, completely panicked at this point as she scampered up to her boss' couch. "I tried to bring him to the shop, but he was spouting some crazy shit about not being able to enter it! And even thought I tried to stop him, he went back to his house! That dumbass! He-" Yuko suddenly sat up, startling the raven into silence, her hand moving lightening quick to touch the girl's right cheek. Her pale fingers skimmed across skin for a few moments, before moving away, pulling something with them. Yuko's body drifted back to the couch, her hair and red lily dress floating down gracefully with her, her cranberry eyes fixed on her hand. She opened her fingers, letting a glinting, silver thread settle on her palm. Watanuki watched the thread, not having realized it had been on her, and everything in the world seemed to focus on that one point. Everything around Yuko darkened, only her white skin and the red lilies on her dress and in her hair were bright – that an the silvery thread.

"He's a victim of a grudge." She stated ominously, her eyes deeply serious. "A spider's."

"A grudge?" Watanuki asked.

"He's done something worthy of having a grudge borne against him, right?" Yuko asked. Watanuki's brain instantly flashed back to the moment just that morning when Doumeki had freed her from a spider's web, breaking the delicate threads to free her hand. She gasped.

"That was just because I got caught in the web myself!" She argued, not understanding how such a little thing could warrant such a reaction.

"To you, Watanuki, it might be a 'just because.'" Yuko started, letting the web fall to the floor and picking up her pipe, the room clouding as she smoked. "But to the spider, it might have been a disaster, on that destroyed its precious home. Watanuki, wouldn't you feel some resentment and hate if suddenly, one day, the place you were living was destroyed without any explanation?"

"Well, I…" She started, unsure how to answer.

"Even if it does not appear to be a significant matter from one perspective, From another perspective, it is a huge incident, and most of the time, it is the recipient who feels the later shock. Only they can say whether it's not a big deal or not. Grudges are things that can be borne easily." The girl sank to the floor, the severity of their actions coming to light once she looked at it from the spider's perspective.

"Even so, I was the one who got caught in the spider's web in the first place. The grudge should be against me!" The raven argued.

"The spider resented Doumeki, the one who'd destroyed its home, more than you, who'd just gotten caught in it. To the spider, Doumeki deserved to be hated more."

"That's entirely unreasonable!" Watanuki shouted.

"A grudge is an unreasonable thing." Yuko replied, completely calm towards the girl's reaction.

"Will Doumeki's eye stay like that?" Watanuki asked, that being the second most important question on her mind.

"Until the spider forgets its grudge."

"How will that happen?!"

"Once it is satisfied with the results." Yuko tapped her kiseru pipe against its dish, dislodging some spent tobacco into its depths. "When the other party has received at least as much damage. However, there are people who aren't satisfied when equal damage had been inflicted and continue to hold a grudge even after the one they hate is destroyed. But since it's a spider this time, equal damage should be more than enough."

Watanuki thought about the whole situation for a moment, the most important question she had looming in her mind, having changed a bit since she'd entered the shop. At first, she'd wanted to know how to get rid of the web, but since this was the grudge of the spider, that seemed to be out of the question. A gnawing sense of guilt was eating at her, roiling around in her stomach. She'd started this whole mess by not paying attention to where she was flinging her arms, as usual and now Doumeki was in a great deal of trouble. It wasn't right. She should be the one who-! The grudge would linger until the spider was satisfied. But…if the grudge couldn't be lifted…could it be…

"Yuko…" Watanuki looked into the witch's eyes, hoping that with her help, she could make things right.

The dim sunset turned into a dark, late night, lingering on as Doumeki sat in his room at the temple, the only lighted room in the whole of his house. The wind whipped outside, foreboding, considering the state the archer was in. The brunette unfolded his arms, pulling one out of his yukata sleeve and brought it up to his sealed eye, lightly touching the web-like marks protruding from his skin. He tried opening his eye again, the tiny muscles of his face straining, but it was closed tight.

"It really won't open." He said softly, more to himself than to anyone else. He was alone with his curse, having come to the conclusion that the spider's web he'd destroyed was the cause of this. It was the only explanation really, he hadn't done anything to any other spiders that day, and in all honesty, whenever Watanuki was involved with something, things tended to go wrong. Or exactly how they were supposed to, as Yuko might say. Either way, Doumeki was just a bit glad that the curse had fallen upon him and not his girlfriend – if it had been Watanuki, things probably would've been far worse, considering her abilities and general misfortune. But still, a lurking heaviness lingered in his stomach, making the whole affair uneasy, even if he was fine with the outcome.

The wind picked up outside, pulling the man from his thoughts as it started to blow against the outside doors of his room. The doors were shaking and creaking under the strain, moaning steadily. It was almost as if the wind was trying to get inside, knocking on the screens almost violently. Unless…it really was a person knocking on the door. Maybe it was Watanuki, coming to see how he was doing. Of course, she'd brush it off as just "passing by" but it would be nice to see her again, especially if she'd calmed down. She might even begrudgingly admit that she was worried about him. But there was no need for her to knock like that, she'd probably just throw the doors open with a dramatic pose and ask him to praise Watanuki-sama for her generosity or something like that. So, maybe it wasn't her.

Doumeki stood up slowly and walked towards the door.

"Who is it?" He asked. The noise quieted down suddenly, the silence disturbing after all the ruckus. Receiving no answer, Doumeki reached out with both hands and pushed the screen doors open from both sides. The lights flicked off behind him, casting the room into darkness except for the dim moonlight shining down. The wind was completely gone, the leaves on the trees silent now, the night quiet. The archer stood for a moment in the quiet, perplexed but calm when suddenly a huge gust threw itself upon him. The wind came ripping and grabbing at his clothes, almost feeling like webs that dragged across skin and fabric, and he threw his hands up to protect his face, squeezing his remaining eye shut. He couldn't breathe in the onslaught, the sheer force knocking whatever breath he had had out of his body. But just as abruptly as it had come, the gust disappeared, leaving the quiet behind in its wake. Doumeki opened his eyes again, surprised that he could do so.

"It's gone." He whispered, staring out into the night with both his eyes. Whatever curse he had on him, it was gone now, gone as if it had never existed in the first place. _Watanuki will be happy, she was so worried this afternoon, _Doumeki thought. Sure, he'd been a little worried about it too, but Watanuki had nearly been distraught. He'd show her that he was okay in the morning and she'd be happy.

At least, that's how it was supposed to go.

The next morning, Doumeki was up earlier than usual, unable to sleep because of the strange events that had happened the night before. As he laid awake, he had ample time to think about it. It made no sense for his curse to disappear so quickly…it had only been day since he'd incurred it and from what he'd learned from his grandfather, curses are nasty things to get rid of and take considerable time and expertise break. But despite the unusual circumstances, Doumeki was glad to tell Watanuki at least, he didn't want his girlfriend to worry about him, especially with how distressed she'd looked yesterday when he'd collapsed in the street. She was going to be happy, and that's all that really mattered. He finished up his chores in no time and waited by the gate of the temple, waiting for Watanuki to walk by like she'd started doing lately. Apparently, Yuko had her stay over more and more now, for breakfasts or late nights when the girl didn't want to walk home at two in the morning. Maybe she'd even give him a kiss, if she was happy enough.

A short time later, he could hear the girl's crisp footsteps approaching the temple, almost echoing in the quite of the morning. But when Watanuki walked past the gate, she didn't stop, she didn't call out to him and definitely didn't give a kiss – she just rushed past without saying a word, her uniform skirt swishing with each step she took. Doumeki walked out of the temple grounds and followed after her, concerned with the girl's lack of greeting or some other such nagging, all of it suspiciously absent. The archer called out to her, trying to get Watanuki to stop running on ahead and actually walk with him.

"Oi." He called.

"My name is not 'oi.'" She hissed. _At least that's normal, _Doumeki thought, but Watanuki still didn't look at him and didn't stop walking. He walked after her, catching up easily with his considerable stride and followed few steps behind the raven.

"Oi." He tried again.

"I'm not 'oi!'" She snapped, clearly pissed at his greeting, like usual. If only things were like usual. The unsettling heaviness in Doumeki's stomach that he'd been feeling since last night roiled. Something was up with Watanuki and he was going to find out what it was. But first, the good news. He wanted her to be at least a little glad before he made her mad by prying into what was wrong.

"My eye is better." He stated simply, watching the back of the girl's head. She didn't turn around to see. "The spider's web that was on it is gone."

"Good for you." She huffed, still not looking back. That feeling was moving up the brunette's stomach and into his chest. Something was really wrong here, he could feel it. She was hiding something.

"Hey. Wait up." Doumeki insisted. Watanuki didn't stop walking. "Oi."

"Like I said already: I'm not – " The girl started, her voice like a broken record. Doumeki's hand shot out, his strong fingers gripping her arm in an unbreakable hold. Watanuki stopped in her tracks, unable to move forward and Doumeki pulled her back, finally getting a look at her face when she was forced to turn towards him. Doumeki's eyes widened, seeing the white medical eye patch that covered the girl's right eye, the straps wrapped around her ears under her glasses. _What happened? Did something attack her? _But the whole thing seemed familiar. _Could it be…_

"What is that?" Doumeki asked, his voice dropping low.

"I have a bit of a sty. It's nothing." Watanuki grumbled, yanking her arm out of Doumeki's grip when he slacked it. A single thought flashed through Doumeki's head – _her eye is injured on the same side my curse was. _And he knew, he knew that she'd done something to take the curse off of him – had done something horrible to herself to spare him the inconvenience and pain of bearing the curse himself. _Watanuki, what have you done?! _

"You did something, didn't you?" His voice was even, but it held so much more than his normal monotone, even Watanuki could tell that something had upset him.

"No idea what you're talking about." She replied, still refusing to look him in the eye as she turned forward again.

"I'm asking you to tell me what you did to lift the spider's web off of my eye." It was not a request: it was a demand. Doumeki walked up to his girlfriend, dropped his school bag and grabbed the front of her uniform, tightening his fist in the cloth of her jacket as he swung her around and into the front wall of a house next to them, knowing that she wouldn't like what he was doing. But there was no other way to find out what she'd done. She wouldn't tell him. She'd lie to him and brush it off; it was just the way she was. Once she'd taken something on, Watanuki hated to give in and ask for help or admit that she'd taken on too much. It was an admirable quality – to be able to have that much determination and stubbornness to accomplish impossible things – but right now, it was getting in the way. Doumeki pressed his body up next to hers, trapping the girl in between a rock and a hard place as she struggled to break free, her hand flying up to cover her face as she let go of her own bag.

"No! Stop it!" She cried, but she was too slow. Doumeki's freed hand was on the patch, ripping it off of her face and sending her glasses flying. They crashed into the pavement, lucky to be in one piece, the sound of the fall clicking quietly behind them. Doumeki held the patch in his hand, staring into Watanuki's face, willing her to move her hand back down so he could see what she'd done. He'd seen a glimpse of what she'd managed to do, and he didn't like it at all. Watanuki was glaring at him, and he didn't like that either.

"You bitch." Doumeki growled, glaring back. Watanuki's hand came down as they glowered at each other. She'd done the unthinkable, something that Doumeki would have never forced on her for his sake. She shouldn't have done what she did.

Watanuki's right eye was glassy and sightless, the once brilliant sapphire that it had been now just a pathetic imitation at watery gray.

Doumeki let go of her jacket, his hands resting at his sides again, the one still holding the patch, trembling in anger. He wouldn't let this one slide by. Watanuki had done something that pissed him off and he wasn't going to stand for it. Anger rushed through him, heat and fury coiling around his heart as the one person he had sworn to protect just threw everything he'd done for her back in his face like she didn't care. It was unforgiveable and selfish, just like her. He was going to fix this.

"I want to see Yuko." Doumeki demanded, keeping his voice under control by sheer force of will. He wanted to yell and scream at her, but he couldn't. It wasn't in his nature to be loud – that was Watanuki's job. But he hoped that she could hear the anger in his voice, could feel his frustration and resentment for her actions. "I can't go into her shop, so I need you to call her here."

"Schools' about to start," Watanuki replied, closing her eye and cutting herself off. She wasn't budging an inch, being stubborn as usual. "Why would I – " Watanuki's answer was cut off as Doumeki smacked his hand flat into the wall behind her, just barely missing her face. The force of his movement ruffled her hair as she stared at him wide eyed, her mouth hanging open. Doumeki was furious and she'd only seen him like this one other time. It was frightening.

"Call her." Doumeki ordered, looming over the girl. Watanuki glared at him with her one good eye, the other seeing only darkness. As much as she wished to defy him and just go to school, Doumeki wasn't going to let to her go without getting what he wanted. It was just the way he was.

"Fine, asshole." She huffed, tsking at him and bending down to pick of her bag. She stood and smacked the patch out of the archer's hand and moodily put it on again, covering up her useless eye before retrieving her fallen glasses. Doumeki watched her do it, seething at the girl. He picked up his bag as well and they stood facing away from each other, both trying their hardest not to give in but not to fight because if they fought, it would be horrible and it would end badly with consequences neither of them wanted to face.

"I'll be at the park." Doumeki informed the seer, starting to walk down the street.

"Do whatever you like." Watanuki hissed, itching to knock her boyfriend down a few pegs, stoking the fight unconsciously.

"Like you did? Dumbass." The archer let some of his frustration slip out again.

"Try callin' me 'dumbass' again and I'm going to kick your dumb ass!" Watanuki shrieked, stomping her foot like a petulant child.

"Just get Yuko." Doumeki threw over his shoulder, staring to walk towards the park.

"Don't tell me what to do!" She shouted after him, but in the end, she did what he told her to do. She turned heel and stomped back to the shop, both of them disappearing around different corners at about the same time.

Doumeki waited for Yuko at the Third City Park, the park they always seemed to go to, sitting on the dog toy as the bright morning grayed with a threatening rain storm. Doumeki thoughts were spinning, his anger making him circle back to Watanuki's actions again and again. He was going to be like this all day, stuck in this rut of thinking, cursing her foolishness and getting angrier and angrier unless Yuko could fix it. Yuko had to be able to fix it – she'd grant his wish, as long as he had suitable compensation. And that's how Yuko found him. The archer's head came up to watch the approaching woman as she seemed to melt out of the mist and grayness, her thigh high boots clicking ominously, her outfit reflecting the drab colors. Doumeki was used to her more flamboyant style, but today, Yuko was wearing a brown-gray dress that matched the morning, and a dark jacket over it, her black hair simply left down.

"Calling me out so early in the morning…is going to cost you." She said, her voice like a soothing threat. Due to her nature and occupation, Doumeki knew all of this was going to cost him, morning or not.

"If there is something I can give, then by all means, I'll give it." The brunette gestured to the duck seat for his guest to sit down. Yuko obligingly sat, crossing her legs sensually. "So please, turn Watanuki's eye back to normal."

"The one who stole Watanuki's eye was the spider," Yuko began, "The same on who cursed your eye with a spider's web. Watanuki said this yesterday when she came to me: 'If the spider came to hate Doumeki more than me…if I did something to be even more hated, would the grudge shift to me?' And I answered, 'Yes.' Then she asked me to tell her how, and I did."

"Why though?" Doumeki asked, wondering if it was possible for this woman to exist outside of her emotions, if it was possible that she didn't care for Watanuki's safety as long as it kept her business going. How else could she let something so cruel happen to the girl, to both of them?

"Because Watanuki wished it." The witch answered simply.

"Even though you knew she would end up like that?" Doumeki's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, glaring at the woman.

"Even so." Yuko gazed back at the frustrated teen calmly. "The shop exists to grant wishes, that is what it is for. People are mysterious creatures, from one person's perspective something may seem unfortunate, but to another, it brings them happiness."

"Then can you tell me how to get her eye back from the spider? Please." The archer asked next, starting to understand where Watanuki's line of thinking had gone. She'd been the one caught in the spider's web, had she not done that, nothing would've happened. Doumeki wouldn't have made the choice to free her, therefore losing use of his eye to the curse. She thought that she should be the one to be punished, for causing the mess in the first place.

"I can't do that." She answered truthfully.

"Why not?"

"To restore Watanuki's eye, this time, Doumeki, you would lose your right eye. If there are wishes equal in desire and outcome, then I give the one that was requested first a higher priority." It made sense, it really did, but that didn't mean that Doumeki liked it. The man lowered his head, staring at his hands and wondering what he could do…if he could do anything at all. Yuko couldn't help him, he and Watanuki desired the same thing, so their wishes were now of equal status, and the dumbass had beaten him to the punch. It was truly frustrating, maddening and stupid.

"You're angry, aren't you?" Yuko asked, as if she was watching his internal struggle with a front row seat.

"I'm not." Doumeki lifted his head to continue the conversation. "Not at you, anyway."

"But you are mad at Watanuki." She concluded. Doumeki didn't refute her, it was the truth. "It's alright to be angry. She does not understand how painful it can be for a person to be sacrificed for. Especially when it is someone important. She doesn't understand any of it at all." Doumeki could predict the way Watanuki would act, how she would brush off her actions like it was nothing and smile her days away while he brooded in the background, furious. "You just have to get mad at her, and teach her that." Yuko finished. The conversation over, both of them came to an understanding about the issue at hand, and Doumeki bid the witch goodbye, thanking her for her services even if she didn't grant his wish. He walked out of the park, turning in the opposite direction of the school, heading back home.

If Yuko couldn't help him, he'd find another way to save Watanuki from herself.

"Wari! Shall we go home together?" Watanuki called, spinning happily as they packed up their schoolbags.

"Sure!" Wari smiled cutely. _Yes! _Watanuki squealed internally, happy to walk home with Wari for once instead of Doumeki. Sure, walking with boyfriends was cool and all, but Doumeki had been really mean to her, so she didn't want to see him right now. In fact, she hadn't seen him for almost a week, which was odd, but good since she was still kinda mad at him. But that didn't matter right now, she was going to walk home with Wari…again! The girl was nearly skipping as the pair left together, heading towards Wari's house.

"It's gotten warmer, hasn't it?" Wari asked, making small talk like he always did.

"It really has!" Watanuki answered happily. _I like this! Lately I'm always going home with Wari. Doumeki is off on his own for once, yay! _

"Oh, Doumeki!" Wari interrupted the girl's thoughts like he could read them.

"WHERE?! Where is that bastard!? Where?! Where!?" The seer hissed like a cat looking all around for her absent boyfriend, ready to give him a piece of her mind about the last time they'd been together.

"He's not here. I was just saying I promised to lend him a book." Wari corrected cheerfully. "But I haven't seen him lately so I haven't been able to give it to him." _Damn you, Doumeki! How dare you trade books with my sweet Wari! _"Are you going to your part-time job at Yuko's shop today, Watanuki?"

"Yeah." She answered, forgetting her internal rant (also forgetting that Wari wasn't hers and that Doumeki was one who was actually hers).

"Then you'll pass by Doumeki's house, right?" The thought of going to Doumeki's was distasteful to the girl, especially after what had happened between them.

"I technically do…sort of." She replied.

"Could you give this to him for me?" Wari, rummaged through his bag and pulled out a book with a yellow cover, holding it out to the girl. The girl stared at the book, horrified at being asked to go to Doumeki's house in the first place when they were mad at each other but also because Doumeki was trading books with Wari, and that was even more horrifying. When she didn't answer, Wari retracted his request. "I'm sorry, you must be busy, Watanuki."

"It's no problem!" The raven lovingly snatched the book out of Wari's hands, smiling like a love struck fool. "I had something I needed to do at Doumeki's place anyway!"

"LIKE HELL I DID!" Watanuki snarled as she stomped up the temple's walk by herself a few minutes later. "I had no reason to come to this damn place! Even when he's not there he always gets in the way, that Doumeki! And I'm still mad at him for that crap he pulled a few days ago!" The girl stopped stomping when she noticed the tree that the spider's web had been in, standing off to the right side of the path. The girl stopped by the tree, her eye drifting to the branch were the spider's web had been hanging, the blue depths of her pupil unreadable as she thought about everything that had happened. _There is the place…where that spider's web was, _she thought to herself. _I've gotten pretty used to having only one eye. _The sight of Doumeki in the same state she was in now flashed through her mind, making her heart ache a little at seeing him like that and then him avoiding her for making everything right. She closed both of her eyes, even the one behind the patch that couldn't see, trying to push down the ache. _If I tell him I don't mind, he shouldn't either. That bastard needs to get over himself. _She opened her eyes again when she was sure that she felt a little better, but then the strangest thing happened.

Her vision split, her left eye still looking at the spider's tree, but the other eye was seeing things for the first time, even covered up by the patch! And it wasn't the rest of the tree and the temple! Whatever her eye was seeing was not where she was. Her vision her right eye was flying over the rooftops of houses! The girl stumbled, shocked, her left eye turning to see the temple as she wobbled on her feet, but not her right eye was seeing stuff from an even greater height, as if it really was flying. The temple side tilted as the Watanuki tried to get a grip on herself, and the weird side darkened for a minute before showing her something else. Her right eye vision was running through grass now, the strands looking like menacing claws from her ground-like perspective before changing again to the picture of beautiful, while daffodils, their radiance unearthly in the sunlight. And then it changed again, showing the girl the gray world of the demon parade then a flash of blue with some red as a person ran by her. Developing a headache, Watanuki threw Wari's book over her eye, trying to shut out the images, as she stumbled across the path. As soon as she did that, her ride side when dark, only seeing blackness. The girl turned to look another way, making sure that the images were gone, and all she saw were the bare branches of the temple's trees. She took the book off her face, just making sure again, but could only see the ordinary now.

"Does it bother you?" A voice asked. Watanuki whirled around, surprised at being seen acting like an idiot. It was Doumeki. He was standing near her, dressed in his chore clothes and holding a stack of books. She had no clue what to say to him, especially after what happened. But he seemed to want to say something. "Does your eye hurt?" He asked again.

"Don't startle me like that." She grumbled, answering him. "It doesn't hurt; forget about it." She finally said what she had wanted to say to him. _Now he shouldn't worry about it. _But if Watanuki had been looking at Doumeki's face carefully, she'd have seen a tormented expression hiding just skin deep.

"Why don't you go home or to Yuko's shop?" Doumeki said next, sounding almost like a command to get out of his presence. That ticked Watanuki off.

"I was about to leave without you telling me." The girl stomped her foot and started yelling louder. "And don't order me around! If Wari hadn't asked me to come, why the hell would I have come here?!" She shoved Wari's book out in front of her and put on her superior air as a way of coping with the fact that Doumeki apparently didn't want her around. "This is the book that my sweet Wari asked me to bring you! Worship it and offer it prayers in gratitude!" It finally registered with the girl that Doumeki already had a stack of books in his hand, holding them with one arm like they didn't weight anything at all. "So what's with that pile of books? Did you go to the library?" The books looked old, their dark brown and yellow pages showing age and they were bound in the old way too.

"No." Doumeki answered. "They came from our storehouse." He pointed off to the back of the temple. Interested and having not been asked to leave for a second time, Watanuki left Wari's book on Doumeki's stack and started walking in the direction he was pointing, and the archer followed close behind. The storehouse was near the back of the temple – it was at least two stories high, its walls whitewashed and the double door were left open because Doumeki had been getting in there.

"Oh wow. A residence with its own storehouse. It's like a commercial." Watanuki stared in awe at its size.

"Wouldn't that fit an architectural company better?" Doumeki interjected.

"It screams out that there's history here." Watanuki continued, ignoring him.

"Well, it was built over one hundred years ago."

"A hundred years?!" Watanuki yelped, surprised that something this old looked so good. "But the walls and stuff don't look _that_ old!"

"My family did a large restoration before I was born. The one who used it most of the time was my grandfather anyways." The archer replied as the girl kept staring. It was nice to see her again, any they were having such a friendly chat. But with Watanuki's temperament, it would sour soon enough, so Doumeki was going to enjoy all he could get.

"You said that your grandfather was the head priest or something, right?"

"Yeah."

"So then, the rest of your chores you do at home are cleaning this storehouse?" Still is awe of the building, Watanuki was curious as to what kind of books it held and went to look at her boyfriend's pile. "Hm?" She made a noise as she read a few of the titles. They were things like "Treaty on the Breaking of Curses/Spells" and "Backfiring of Curses and Rituals." Watanuki looked up at Doumeki and he just stared down at her, his expression even more stone-like than usual. He moved the books away from her and covered up some of the titles, trying to hide the fact that he was researching on his own. And Watanuki had soured the conversation by prying. So, to stop an argument on the real issue, Doumeki opened up the old argument.

"Aren't you supposed to be going to your job or something?" The archer asked. "Or, if you want to help me clean, the broom is over there." He pointed towards where she knew the cleaning supplies were, his sleeve covering up the titles for him.

"Who would want to do that?! You forced me to do it!" Watanuki howled, several cross veins popping up out of her head. She hastily declined the offer and stomped out of the temple, heading towards Yuko's place. But she might've been better off cleaning the temple with Doumeki because Yuko had her do something worse.

Namely, wearing a dress.

Today, Yuko had taken it upon herself to decorate (or have the twins decorate, Watanuki really couldn't tell) the second dining room so that it looked like Wonderland and thrown up everywhere. Yuko was dressed like the Queen of Hearts, Maru was the Mad Hatter (hat and all) and Moro was the March Hare (ears and nest of straw present as well). The floors and ceiling were somehow magically black and white tile now, a huge dining table set for tea with room for fifteen guests had appeared in the cender of the room, there were giant chess pieces everywhere and a few trees with white and red roses blooming in them and all sorts of Alice in Wonderland dolls were sitting around the edges of the room, including Humpty Dumpty, TweedleDee and TweedleDum, the frog footman, the Dodo, the White Rabbit and the Cheshire cat. Mokona was asleep in the middle of the table to top it all off.

And Watanuki was wearing and Alice dress. How embarrassing.

Yuko was sipping her tea and daintily eating the tea time pastries and sandwiches Watanuki had made up as the girl walked back in with a fresh pot of tea and a tray of more goodies. Her dress quietly whooshed as she walked and the girl was still grumbling about Doumeki, resolutely trying to ignore the fact that she was wearing a dress.

"And just when I have gone over there to deliver Wari's book to his especially! Who would do the cleaning!?" She picked up her rant right where she'd left off when Yuko had ordered more tea. Trying to use me as a servant, that Doumeki!" Watanuki growled.

"Oh, yes, I'm sure no one's ever tried to do that before." Yuko replied sarcastically, eyeing her servant's dress. _She's almost too easy to order around now. I hardly had to push her to get her into that dress. _She changed the subject to a more delightful one. "Doumeki's storehouse, huh?" She blushed, holding up her heart-shaped fan to her face. "I'm sure there are many treasures hidden away in there."

"Treasure!" Maru sang as she leapt out of her seat.

"Treasure!" Moro sang back, jumping out of her seat as well.

"Treasure! Treasure! Lots of treasure!~" They both sang, starting to dance and then spin down either side of the table, repeating their little song over and over again.

"Hey, now! Sit down you two!" Watanuki tried to stop them, but they weren't listening anymore. "By the way…why am I Alice?!" Watanuki finally addressed the dress problem, grabbing handfuls of the skirt and hoisting them up, nearly showing Yuko her panties.

"It's more interesting that way." Yuko replied. "Dianne Aldman's Alice was good, but as an English love, I prefer Tenniel's. (1)

"What the heck is that?" Watanuki asked as Yuko took a sip of tea. Mokona stirred in its sleep, disturbed by the twin's singing, but just stretched and plopped face down on the table to nap again. _How does it not suffocate like that? _Watanuki wondered. "At any rate, it looked like an amazing storehouse." Yuko popped a pastry in her mouth as she listened. "The books he had looked old too."

"What kind of books were they?" The witch-turned queen asked.

"Well, I saw one that was about breaking curses and one about backfiring them and ritual stuff."

"Oh, I see." Yuko smiled, figuring everything out.

"See what?"

"I figured out what Doumeki has been doing at home all this time." She elaborated.

"Like I said, he's cleaning out the storehouse." Watanuki reiterated.

"He won't find it unless he cleans it out." Yuko replied.

"Find what?" All of a sudden, Yuko's finger was right in her face, pointing at her right eye and startling the girl in the process.

"A way to give you back your eye."

"What?" Watanuki's eyes widened, starting to understand.

"Doumeki's grandfather was the head priest and preformed exorcisms of evil spirits, didn't he? There must be books related to those skills in that storehouse." The twin's voices were the only thing that interrupted Yuko, the rest of the room taking on a bit of an eerie atmosphere as things came to light. "For him to have books on breaking curses and other things like that, is fortunate. Antique book and technique shops would be on their knees begging for him to give them up. For a astronomical of money. But instead, since I turned him down to restore your eye, he's decided to look on his own, all for you."

"That idiot!" Watanuki spat, hating the fact that Doumeki was meddling in her affairs. "I did it of my own volition, he should just stay out of it!"

"If that's the case, I think you should just leave Doumeki to his own devices, don't you?" Watanuki had nothing to say and remained silent. "Watanuki, could you get me some brandy for my tea?" Yuko asked, testing the girl's usual temper.

"Sure. Give me a minute." She said, not resisting at all, as if her mind were somewhere else. The girl walked out of the room, past Maru and Moro who were now on the table and drawing on Mokona's back with white chalk, playing a game of tick tack toe.

"X!" Moro said, placing her mark.

"O!" Maru seconded, placing her own mark.

"X!"

"O!"

When Watanuki had left, shutting the door behind her, Yuko reach for the hooka next to her, taking a drag from the hose and letting the smoke drift through the air.

"Even when he's been told it's impossible, he is doing what he can by himself, searching for a solution. That's the kind of devotion one would expect out of a lover. You're very lucky Watanuki." Yuko smiled. "That is also the reason why Doumeki has no need to enter this shop." Mokona finally woke up while Yuko was talking to herself, jumping to its feet and giving a huge yawn that stretched the whole of its body. "She's going to go, right?" Yuko asked her companion. Mokona jumped up and off of Moro's and Maru's head, punching their nest and hat over their eyes before landing next to the witch.

"Oh yeah." It agreed. They knew it would happen, with almost undeniable certainty.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

A dog barked in the night, its howls echoing across the streets like a ghost as Doumeki studied in the storehouse. It was late, incredibly so, but he couldn't stop. For the past several days and nights, this is what he'd done, talking only a few breaks to eat, use the restroom and do his normal chores. Books were left in piles everywhere, on the floor and the low desk, all useless to him. The lone light from his kerosesene lamp was sufficient enough to light the space of the desk and a little bit of the storehouse, making the shadows even deeper. Doumeki crisply shut the book he was currently reading, disappointed that it had nothing on spider's curses, just like all the other books. He'd cleaned out and read almost everything in the storehouse at this point. He was nearly at his wit's end, even if his face didn't show it.

"All that's left are the books in the chest." He said, to no one in particular. Just then, the sliding door into the storehouse was pushed open with a slam. "Who's there?" He asked, turning to see a late night visitor.

"It's Watanuki-sama!" Watanuki was standing there in a dramatic pose, her glasses glinting in the dim light. She was still in her uniform and had her school bag with her, along with another bag.

"What time do you think it is?" Doumeki asked, standing up to greet her. It was nice to see her for a second time in one day, after so long absence.

"That's my line!" She huffed, shutting the door behind her and stepping into the _genkan_. "How long is cleaning supposed to take? Slowpoke!"

"What about your job?" Doumeki asked, dodging the question.

"I'm done with that." Watanuki kicked off her shoes before stepping up onto the storehouse floor. "Geez! You haven't cleaned up at all! This is why you're an idiot." The archer was not in the mood to be criticized or be made fun of, much less by her. He had one more chest to go through and then that was it: he was all out of options to help her.

"Just get going, will yo-" Suddenly, there was a bag in his face, the one that wasn't Watanuki's school bag. Doumeki had to lean back to avoid being hit by it and stared at it, confused, as it was dropped in his hands.

"Untio your pitiful self, in my graciousness I have brought you a meal worth of the gods!" Watanuki struck a few poses, starting to look like the prince character in a manga as she did so. "Worship it and dance with gratitude at my greatness!" She started laughing like the villain in an manga and Doumeki just shrugged, reaching inside the bag for her home cooking.

"Moron." He said.

"WHAT WAS THAT, YOU BASTARD!?" Watanuki leapt at him, her hands grabbing the collar of his gi shirt. He plugged his one ear and held his lunch out of the way as Watanuki's fangs came out. It was just like it normally was. Everything was normal, except for one thing.

"If you have that much energy I guess you're fine." He commented.

"HUH?!" The seer shouted, starting to sound like the leader of a punk gang.

"In this storehouse, my grandfather collected mountains of books on things like techniques and tools for using charms. It means nothing to you, right?" Doumeki asked, getting out of the girl's grip and sitting down to pull out his food.

"I'm getting really pissed at you!" Watanuki snarled, completely normal.

"It also seems that my grandfather was being sure that he didn't bring anything dangerous in here." The archer ignored her just as she was ignoring him. Watanuki looked around, finding the objects that Doumeki was talking about (apparently not ignoring him completely). In each of the four corners of the room, talismans had been placed on the beams.

"Protective wards?" She whispered, looking at all four. And now she got where Doumeki was going with this. "That's right. Normally, in stuffy places where the air stagnates like this, there would be spirits…but I can't sense any." But even if there weren't any obvious spirits, something was nagging at the back of the raven's mind…an ominous presence that seemed to shift and move, almost undetected. She couldn't get a read on it. "But…there is something…" Watanuki tried to focus on the presence, trying to find where it was, sharpening her unfortunate gift to figure out what was going on. A few moments passed in quite as she concentrated and sensed…and then…

"There's no tea." Doumeki shattered the girl's concentration with his mundane comment as he started to eat.

"You're eating already?!" Watanuki snarled, completely forgetting the presence and flying off the handle at her unconcerned boyfriend. But he ignored her and started eating. Watanuki went to grab her thermos and wondered how he liked the food. She'd gone with simple things this time – tamagoyaki, steamed vegetables, potatoes, onigiri and the like – so the whole meal wasn't anything fancy. The girl unscrewed the lid of her thermos and flipped it around expertly, having done this _many_ times, and used it as a cup. "Geez, I can't leave you alone for a second," she grumbled. Once the cup/lid was full, she pushed it into Doumeki's face.

"Here!" She snipped. "It's not tea but I made some Miso soup. Bow your head three time and give thanks before drinking!" Watanuki ordered.

"Sure." Doumeki took the cup by the handle and looked at it for a second, like he really was going to bow his head and give thanks. But then he just started drinking without doing any of that.

"That's not giving thanks, you bastard!" Watnauki shook and angry fist at him. But if Doumeki could've argued (which he couldn't because he was eating) he would've argued that eating someone else's food with gusto was thanks in and of itself. And so he ate. "These are just leftovers from Yuko's." The raven started babbling, letting her mouth run while the archer just listened and ate quietly, picking up some inarizushi with his chopsticks. "Leftover are more than good enough for you." In actuality, Watanuki had made this from scratch just for him, since Yuko had wanted English tea today to make her Alice theme, but she wasn't going to tell him that.

"I want croquettes next time." (2) He requested, as if he knew that she'd made this just for him.

"GAH!" Watanuki yelped. "Listen when someone is talking to you! They were leftovers!" Watanuki tried to solidify her lie with drama (not all of it fake because he really wasn't listening to her). Doumeki, being the Doumeki he was, devoured his food quickly, all while maintaining his stone-faced composure, and soon, he was handing the empty, two-layer bento box back to Watanuki.

"Gochisousama." (3) He said with a single bow of his head while Watanuki placed the lid back on the box. "That was good." Then he stood up and walked off to look at more books.

"Geez, he really thinks he's something special." Watanuki grumbled to herself. Now that the food was taken care of, she looked around the desk she was sitting next to, her gaze flitting from book to book, astounded that the brunette had apparently read all of them while supposedly cleaning. It was frustrating to think that he was doing all this research on his own, trying to fix something that she'd chosen or herself. She'd fixed the grudge placed upon him, why wasn't he grateful for that? Now that he was better, there was no reason to worry for her, and yet, he was still doing this.

"Are you looking for it?" She asked, her question pointed because she already knew the answer.

"What?" Doumeki paused in pulling a book off of the storehouse's massive bookcase, and gave her a blank look.

"A way to restore my eye." Doumeki didn't answer and just opened the book in his hands, giving Watanuki all the answer she needed. He needed to understand that she was fine like this, this outcome is what she chose to help him. "I'm fine, even if I have to stay like this." Her words were heavy on her tongue, full of hidden emotion and confusion at his actions for trying to undermine her desire to help him. _She's too damn stubborn, _Doumeki shook his head ever so slightly.

"Well, I am not." Doumeki's answer was also heavy, hiding feelings of worry and regret for what had happened. _Geez, he's stubborn, _Watanuki rolled her eyes.

Silence ensued between them, both individuals unmoving in their convictions. There was nothing more to say on the subject – they were both dissatisfied with the other's attitude.

"You should head back soon. Spirits come out more easily at night, don't they?" Doumeki broke the silence, trying to get the tiring, unhelpful girl out of his way if she wasn't going to help him. He had to find a way to help her get her eye back, that's all that really mattered right now. They could solve their other issues after that. But Watanuki didn't leave. She picked a book off the desk and rested it on her folded knees, opening it up.

"If you're doing research on your own, then I can do it on my own too." She replied with a huff. Doumeki turned at look at her, surprised by her actions considering what she'd done to herself (of course, his face didn't show it). Watanuki turned to glare at him. "You got a complaint or something!?"

"I read that one already." The girl's face flushed in embarrassment, a sweatdrop forming on her forehead. "Read those ones." Doumeki pointed to the chest he hadn't gone through yet.

"Don't order me around!" Watanuki snapped, standing up and brushing her skirt down. "Geez, you've always acted like this!" Watanuki walked over to the chest, tucked into the corner with another one, a diagonal support beam and the face of the wall making a little niche above it. She bent down to pick up the chest. "In here, right?" She lifted the box, surprised by how light it was despite its size and overcompensated, smacking the corner into the support beam and knocking a piece of wood off of it, revealing a little compartment. "Oh, shit, I broke it!" She exclaimed, hoping that she didn't just break Doumeki storehouse permanently.

"Wait," Doumeki said, catching sight of something inside the compartment wrapped in and aged paper. He walked over and reached for the parcel as Watanuki set the chest down again and started having a freak out.

"I broke someone's storehouse! Oh my god, what am I going to do?!" She flapped her gums, speaking faster and faster as she went on. "What, what should I do?! I'll have to compensate you! I'm sure it can be fixed! Ah! What've I done!?" Doumeki ignored her in the back ground and carefully tore open the paper wrapped around the object. It was a book, a book with a talisman pasted on the front done in his grandfather's hand writing. The kanji on the spell was accompanied by a drawing of a strange-looking arrow, one with a horseshoe tip rather than the traditional arrowhead. This book was very old and it held something important if it was hidden away like it had been.

"This is my grandfather's handwriting." Doumeki said out loud, interrupting Watanuki's hysterics.

"Oh, so this is something your grandfather wrote?" The seer asked, calming down and coming to take a look. She saw the workmanship of the talisman on the front and was kinda floored by it. "Oh wow, he's good. In fact, he's so food I can't even read it."

"This is the greatest thing you could find." Doumeki admitted, his eyes getting a little warmer as he gazed at Watanuki, particularly at her eye patch.

"So you can read it? You know what it is?"

"Yeah." Doumeki took the book over to the desk, clearing away all the other manuscripts and moving the lamp closer so he could read better. Watanuki stood by him as he sat down, starting to read, impressed that he could understand such intricate and skillful handwriting. Several minutes passed in silence as the archer read, and Watanuki was getting fidgety, irked that he hadn't told her what he'd found. Actually, it was what _she_ found so she _should_ know what _she_ had found.

"Oi." The archer piped up.

"How many times are you going to make me say it?!" Watanuki shouted, pissed that he still wasn't using her actual name. "My name is _not_, 'oi!'"

"Found it." He replied, ignoring her.

"Found what, exactly?" Watanuki huffed, still irked that he hadn't told her what _she'd_ found.

"A spell to return an eye taken by a spider." He answered, showing her the book. Watanuki couldn't believe her eyes. On the left page there was a drawing of a spider in its web, a thread coming from the left corner of the illustration, up to the spider's outstretched leg and then back down to where and eyeball hung at the very end. The opposite page seemed to have ritual instructions, but Watanuki couldn't read them.

"Geez, that's oddly specific!" Watanuki gasped, not believing their luck. "Wait, so this is a common occurrence?" Doumeki started reading, overjoyed that all his study had been worth it. With Watanuki's help, his could fix this.

"On the night of a new moon, draw water from a well and wash the lost eye." He began, both of their eyes firmly fixed on the page, so close to the answers. "And with that water-" As the archer continued, Watanuki felt something, that presence she couldn't pin point, suddenly get stronger as she became aware of it once again.

Her head snapped in the direction of Wari's book, sitting next to Doumeki's other books. It opened by itself, and the pages flipped quickly as if caught in a gust of wind. Doumeki stopped reading to stare too as the book flopped open to a random page. Then something even stranger started to happen: the characters on the page started to move, shaking and tugging as they pulled themselves free of their confines, gathering at the center of the two pages. Both teens gasped as a black blob of letters and ink rising out of the spine. The blob rose out of the book once all of the characters had been pulled into it, forming a snake-like creature that lunged at Doumeki. Watanuki gasped, grabbing at Doumeki's collar and yanking him away from the creature, both of them crashing to the ground. If only he hadn't dropped the book. It fell, falling open to a random page on the floor. The creature stopping lunging at the teens and its head swung around to look at the book, its body stretching down to the pages. And then it started to eat. Its head ran down the lines of text, the characters disappearing as it gobbled up the words.

"Its eating the characters…" Watanuki breathed, watching at her only hope at getting her eye back was devoured. Doumeki was moving in an instant, intent of getting the book back. He was going to fix Watanuki so that nothing had happened, that way, he could look her in both of her eyes and not see her suffering anymore than she had to. But as he started to lunge for the tome, the seer's hands were on his shoulders, holding him back.

"Don't get close to it!" She screamed, fearful of what that creature could do to humans if they agitated it.

"At this rate, all the words will be eaten." Doumeki argued back, his voice inflecting anger without holding much of it. The man broke her hold on his easily and reached for the book. The snake reared its head as he got close and hissed, revealing a set of sharp, black fangs. He almost had it, even if he was bitten or something else, he was going to get that book back. Suddenly, the snake was pushed down, trapped by one by the bento box layers that Watanuki had grabbed.

"It can't get us now!" She yelled, breathing heavily from her dash and out of fear.

"You moron." Doumeki sighed.

"What did I do?!" Watanuki half-heartedly snapped, still focused on the snake.

"What's the point of trapping it with the book?" The archer pointed out, kneeling down to remove the box.

"Don't touch it! It'll jump out again!"

"How am I supposed to get the book if I can't touch it?"

"I'm telling you to stop it!" Watanuki was yelling again. "What will you do if it's something you can't handle!?" The girl didn't want anything to happen to Doumeki again – she'd already gotten him into so much trouble already. If Doumeki, the one who had a strong resistance to spirits, couldn't handle the snake, then what could she do? This was all she could do to begin with!

"Then you should go." Doumeki encouraged, worried about Watanuki's safety but still determined to get the book.

"I'm not leavning!"

"Then I'm not leaving it either." The box rattled violently, the snake inside it hissing menacingly as it tried to get out. What to do, what to do?! Watanuki had no clue how to deal with this and neither did Doumeki. The only person who did wasn't even there…

"That's right!" Watanuki could get Yuko! "I should as Yuko what to-" the girl by cut off by a cheerful voice.

"You called?" Yuko sang. Watanuki whirled around to see Yuko standing in the door she'd just opened, waving at her. Mokona was sitting on the woman's shoulder and she'd changed into some more normal clothes than the Queen of Hearts outfit she'd been wearing earlier, namely a pair of red pants and a long sleeved crop top, her hair already yanked up into a new bun.

"Yuko!?" Watanuki exclaimed.

"Hey ya!" Mokona greeted.

"Hi!~" The witch added brightly. She skipped into the _genkan_ and kicked off her heels. "Sorry for the intrusion, but this looks like fun." The witch stepped into the storehouse and walked up to the teens, looking down at the box with a questioning look. "Are you taking it home, Watanuki?" She asked, referring to the caught snake.

"No I'm not!" Watanuki shook her head vehemently and jumped away from the box.

"Well, then…I think it would be better if we just had it disappear." Yuko tapped her chin with one finger, thinking.

"Yes, please!" The seer begged, nodding furiously.

Yuko took a look around the room, starting in one corner and moving counterclockwise until she'd looked in all four corners before circling back.

"Doumeki, can I make use of those wards?" Doumeki looked at the talisman closest to him, wondering if it was a good idea to let her have them. They protected the storehouse, so it wasn't a great idea to let them go. "I'll draw you up new ones later, if you like."

"That's fine." He decided. Yuko smiled and held her hand out in front of her.

"Mokona." She requested.

"Yeah!" The furball jumped off her shoulder into her hand and then Yuko held it above her head. Mokona opened it huge mouth and took a gigantic breath, calling up a gale inside the storehouse, the winds whipping and pulling on the four wards. The pieces of paper gave way after a moment, being sucked into the creature as it closed its mouth.

The long strands of Yuko's hair that weren't in her bun stopped whipping wildly and settled down with the wind, and the witch brought her companion down to chest level. Mokona opened its mouth again, the talismans drifting out, floating in the air for a moment before filing into Yuko's hand. She pinched the papers in between her pointer finger and thumb and put Mokona on her shoulder again, letting the pork bun hold on to three of the papers. Then she carefully knelt down and placed her hands on the box, ready to lift it and expose the snake underneath. Watanuki and Doumeki watched carefully, the former with trepidation. Yuko lifted the box and tucked it under her left arm quickly as the snake uncoiled itself, leaping at her face. She held up the first talisman, protecting herself and stopping the creature in its tracks, maw open wide in a hiss.

"See here?" Yuko asked, jiggling the talisman. "There are some tasty words right here." She flicked the paper onto the floor and the snake leapt after it, eating the words as it had done with the book, the characters flowing down its body in little lumps. Yuko flicked another one onto the floor as soon as it was finished and the creature leapt for that one, repeating the process all over again. "This one too." She prompted, waving the third a little. The snake leapt at the ward, yanking it from the witch's fingers and hastily devouring the written characters. Yuko watched the creature, like one would watch an amusing pet, her eyes hooded, painted lips almost smiling. "And don't forget this one." She flicked the fourth and final ward down and the snake leapt on that one too, the lumps traveling down its body a little slower than the rest had. As the last of the words disappeared into the creature's gullet, the snake's body started to…unravel, the black threads of its body pulling it apart into a giant, writhing mass for its size. The threads wriggled and bunched up until they were pulled back down, turning white and wrapping into an egg shaped oval as big as Yuko's hand, the whole thing resting on the blank paper that had once been a protective ward.

"Just as you would expect from wards written by Doumeki's grandfather." Yuko said, picking up the bundle, admiring the work of the wards. "That was incredibly effective."

"What...what the heck happened?" Watanuki asked, staring in awe at was used to be the snake.

"This is a bookworm," Yuko said, holding up the bundled up snake. "It lives inside books and its favorite snack are words that are important or have significant value. That's why it latched onto the words that Doumeki's grandfather had written." Yuko picked up the fourth talisman that was lying next to her and flipped around to both sides. "It ate all the words on the four wards and now it can't move at all. It's kind of like it ate the protective barrier, and now it's in the bookworm's body."

While Yuko was explaining to Watanuki what had happened, Doumeki went and picked up the book he'd dropped, flipping to the page with the spell he'd been looking for. The page was destroyed, only a few marks and words were left, including about half the illustration. It was completely useless now, Watanuki's only hope to get her eye back had vanished. His eyes narrowed angry at this turn of events.

"They're gone." He grumbled.

"It's because I covered it up." Watanuki replied moodily.

"Is that a 'sorry?'" Doumeki asked pointedly.

"Like hell it is!" Watanuki shrieked while Doumeki covered his ears with his hands (and the book by default) and leaned away from her loudness. She grabbed his collar and shook him backwards the forwards, nearly breathing fire in her anger. "God! You're always so ridiculously full of yourself! Always, always, always, always, always-!" Yuko smiled at their hilarity and took a look around Doumeki family's treasured storehouse, spotting a modern book on the desk next to the aged tomes Doumeki had been studying. She picked up the yellow and teal book, holding it up.

"Hey…who does this book belong to?" The witch asked, already having an inkling.

"It's Wari's book-" Watanuki started to reply, and then she freaked out again, dropping Doumeki on the floor. "The inside! What happened to the inside!" She shouted, running over and taking the book when Yuko offered it. The girl opened the book and started flipping through the pages, finding that everything had been destroyed and only the vaguest of smudges were left on the paper. "What the heck?! It's ruined! What should I do? Wari's book is ruined!" Watanuki's face turned green as her stomach roiled, nearly sobbing as her beloved crush's property was damaged beyond repair.

"Oh, so it was Wari's…" Yuko mused, her suspicions confirmed. Watanuki sighed, despondent.

"Oh, by the way, what are you doing here at this time of night, Yuko?" The girl asked, curious to know how the witch was so quick to their rescue.

"I wasn't to see Doumeki's storehouse, of course." Yuko pulled a princely pose, her eyes nearly sparkling in admiration. "I thought that there might be treasure here.~"

"You're such a selfish person, you know that?!" Watanuki snapped.

"And also…" Yuko twirled around and clapped her hands together, blushing cutely along with Mokona. "Because Watanuki specifically made a bento box, so I thought that we might have dinner too!~"

"Food!~" Mokona cheered. Shivers ran up Watanuki's spine, the girl horrified that she was going to be outed to by her boyfriend by her boss. The girl turned around so Doumeki wouldn't see her start to sweat, the beads running down her face at an alarming rate.

"I thought it was just leftovers." Doumeki stated.

"Oh really?~" Yuko sang, giving the girl a pointed look, knowing exactly what was going on and loving a good tease. "We only had a ceremonious English tea this afternoon." Watanuki leapt in between the two of them to shut Yuko up, waving her arm around like a chicken trying to take flight before attempting to push Yuko out the door.

"Any, it's late, so we should get going, right Yuko?" Watanuki insisted, laughing nervously, feeling Doumeki's blank stare on her.

"Hey, the night's still young." Yuko argued playfully, knowing she'd caught the girl lying to her boyfriend red-handed. "This is the time for partying."

"Then why don't we do it at the shop!?" Watanuki hastily suggested. "Right, right?!" Yuko have her that coy look, signaling that she wasn't done playing yet.

"But I came all the way here…" Yuko whined, acting like a spoiled child.

"We did!" Mokona seconded.

"Tea, you say?" Doumeki mused, understanding what Watanuki had done and getting ready to plug his ears. It was so cute the way she acted sometimes, bringing him food when she didn't have too. However, her screaming in his ears was not so cute.

"Zip it, you bastard!" Watanuki yelled, ticked off that he'd figured it out.

"Watanuki!" Yuko called. The girl turned to see what was up. "Come on! Let's get started and have some fun!~" Yuko held up a huge bottle of sake and she and Mokona both had a cup to go with it.

"Sake!~" Mokona cheered.

"Your preparation is impeccable, as always." Watanuki said sarcastically.

"Then why don't you prepare by making some yummy food?" Yuko prompted.

"Hell no!" The girl snapped. "You want me to go buy ingredients at his time of night?!" Yuko started pouting at the girl's outburst.

"But I didn't get to eat any of your bento…" Watanuki gaped at her childishness.

"You can use whatever's in our fridge. I'm sure there's enough." Doumeki offered, still feeling a little hungry, even after having been fed.

"Even if you say that, what should I make?" Watanuki asked, bummed out by the usual turn of events. She should've seen Doumeki's answer coming, though.

"You should make croquettes." He replied, hell bent on getting his snack. Watanuki's face dead panned as much as Doumeki's face always did.

"Do you really want to eat croquettes that much?" She asked.

"Yeah." He replied frankly.

"Then make some croquettes, Watanuki!" Yuko cheered.

"But you shouldn't drink sake with croquettes!" She protested.

Five batches of croquettes (and various other foods) later and floor littered with sake bottles to boot, Watanuki was just about done with Yuko's relentless teasing and pushed the woman out of the storehouse door around five in the morning.

"Yuko! Get your drunk ass home! I have school in a few hours!" Watanuki grumbled, shoving at the witch's back.

"So does Doumeki and he's not being a buzz kill!~" Yuko pointed out, pouting and digging her heels into the ground.

"He's been skipping school for days, he doesn't care!" The raven argued back, straining against the taller woman's weight.

"I'm coming back to school." Doumeki stated, watching the pair from the storehouse door.

"See?!" Watanuki gloated. "Now we have to go! It's late!"

"The gracious thing for Doumeki to do is let us stay the night! I mean, would he let two women walk the dark streets alone at this hour?" Yuko posed the question, using her coy voice.

"You're the one that wanted to party until this hour!" The seer huffed, still pushing the witch but getting nowhere.

"I do have rooms, if you would like to stay." Doumeki offered.

"We're staying!~" Yuko leapt in the air, sending Watanuki crashing to the ground when all the weight she'd been pushing disappeared.

"Oof!" The seer exclaimed, getting a face full of dirt. Yuko skipped towards the temple, ecstatic to be sleeping over. "You've got to be kidding me." Watanuki sighed as the woman disappeared inside the temple, suddenly falling quiet after Doumeki told her which room she could stay in.

"Are you still going home?" Doumeki asked, watching the girl as she slumped on the ground.

"Of course, I am!" Watanuki growled, jumping to her feet. "Why would I stay here!?"

"Because you can sleep safe in a warm bed without having to worry about spirits assaulting you on the way home," The archer supplied. "As one example."

"Just one!?" Watanuki snarled. "Are you saying I can get into more trouble than that!?"

"Yes." Doumeki knew it was true and Watanuki knew it was true too (but she wasn't going to admit it).

"Fine. I'm staying." Watanuki huffed like she was above it all. "But it's only because my walk in the morning will be shorter, got it?" The archer hummed, seeing right through her excuse. "Which room can I stay in?" The seer asked.

"Mine." He answered instantly.

"I'm not sleeping in your bed you pervert!" The girl blushed furiously at the thought and growled at him.

"Just sleep with him already!" Yuko shouted, as she poked her head out of a door, giggling at the embarrassed girl.

"You shut up!" Watanuki yelled back.

"Ooooo!~ Scary!~" Yuko and Mokona both giggled teasingly. Watanuki was going to blow a gasket at them.

"Do you want to take a bath?" Doumeki asked, interrupting their spat.

"Yes, that would be nice." The raven answered coolly, trying not to give in to that damn woman's teasing any more than she already had.

"I'll come with you, then." The brunette added.

"No you're not!" The girl was blushing even harder now, cursing the fact that she associated with two people who had no sense of dignity! (Well, three if you counted Mokona.)

"Just get naked with him already!" Yuko shouted again. "You know you want too!"

"I said SHUT UP!" Watanuki was going to punch in her the face, holding up an angry fist at the bitch. "I'm sleeping in my own room and I'm taking my own bath, got it!?" She yelled at her boss. "And if you," she continued, glaring at Doumeki, "follow me into either of those places you're going to wish you hadn't." The girl had a murderous look in her eye that even Doumeki's boyfriend status wouldn't save him from it.

"Kill joy." He huffed, his voice still monotone. Watanuki was so furious at him having the last word that she stomped off without saying anything else, mentally cursing both Yuko and Doumeki, frustrated that she couldn't come out of top with either of them. But thankfully, both of them stayed out of her hair for the rest of the night (morning), and she was able to get up before either of them (she'd hardly slept anyway) and was out of the temple before she had to see their faces. But the girl quickly tired on her way to school, and barely made it to her seat without collapsing.

"I can't believe we ended up drinking in Doumeki's storehouse all night." Watanuki sighed as she slouched over to her seat the next day at school, completely exhausted. She set her school bag down on her desk and started grabbing her books. "Are those two fish or something? And why do they feel the need to tease me so mercilessly? It's so embarrassing when they get like that." Watanuki pulled out a book, but it wasn't her textbook, it was Wari's ruined book. The girl stared at it with a trouble expression, worrying about the state of the book (and what Wari would say when he saw it) and the events that had transpired the previous evening. But her thoughts were interrupted by a cheerful voice calling her name.

"Good morning, Watanuki!" Wari was standing next to her already!

"Wari! It's you!" Watanuki jumped, started by the greeting, the damaged book still on her mind. She looked at it again and decided to get the confession over with, even if he was going to be mad at her. "I'm sorry," she apologized, holding out the book with both hands and bowing her head.

"Huh?" Wari asked, confused. Watanuki explained everything that had happened the night before with the bookworm and apologized again when Wari started looking through the ruined pages.

"You're right." He said, flipping through the chapters. "There are letters scattered everywhere."

"I'm sorry I couldn't stop it." Watanuki apologized again, feeling really bad about it.

"It's not your fault, Watanuki." Wari gave her a radiant smile. "Don't give it a second thought, okay?"

"Oh you're just so nice, Wari!~" Watanuki blushed like a idiot, gushing at her crush.

"You called it a bookworm, right? I would've liked to see that." Wari mused, marveling at the things Watanuki got to see and do.

"Oh no you don't, it was uber creepy." She shook her head. "It gave me goose bumps. Oh, and Doumeki said he'd buy you a new copy."

"That's nice, but he doesn't have to."

"But it seems like he wants to read it after all, that cheeky bastard." Watanuki made a face to mock Doumeki but then thought about what Yuko had said about that book. _"__Hey…who does this book belong to? _That's what she'd asked, as if she'd already know. _But why was Yuko so concerned with the owner of the book? Now that I think about it, she's said something about Wari before…that he's not exactly my lucky guy. But what could she mean? _Wari looked up from checking out his ruined book and saw Watanuki with a worried face.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Nothing's wrong at all, Wari! You're as cute as ever!~" Watanuki perked up again, deciding that for the rest of the day, she wasn't going to worry about any of that. And she didn't, even so far as to being chipper until she went shopping for dinner.

"That Doumeki didn't even come to school today like he said he was going to." Watanuki grumbled on her way to Yuko's shop that afternoon. "I bet his ass is hungover just like Yuko's, those bastards. But that doesn't matter right now! Wari wasn't mad at me and today's been pretty great despite the fact that I only got two hours of sleep." Watanuki smiled, swinging her shopping bag cheerfully as she walked. "I suppose I'll make a buta kakunidon tonight (4). And for a side…Cobb salad with lots of vegetables! Eating a balanced diet is important after all!"

As the girl was walking, her vision did that thing again, the thing where her right eye could see things from under her eye patch, things that she shouldn't have been able to see at all. This time, her right eye was looking at a dimly lit forest, its view partly obscured by grass and low growing plants. A huge black crow flew at her, her right ear able to hear its call as if she were there. Watanuki dropped her bags and ducked out of instinct with a shout, avoiding something that wasn't even there before falling to her knees on the ground, her right hand coming up to cover her eye.

"What was that…?" She breathed, freaked out by the experience. With her right eye now covered by her hand, the vision stopped; blackness covering her eye like it should behind the patch. But now her left eye was seeing something that wasn't really there. Well…it wasn't really there for most people but for Watanuki, it really was there.

It was a goldfish, a huge goldfish as big as her hand that was swimming through the air like it would water. The red and white frills of the creature's fins swayed gracefully as it floated near her, reminding the girl of her own gold fish Ka, only much bigger. With a flick of its fins, the goldfish floated higher, the movement making a watery swish even though it was swimming through air. Appearing out of nowhere, a girl in a red miniskirt and black T-shirt jumped at the fish from the right, her white calf-high boots making a click on the house wall as she leapt off of it and caught the fish in her hands. The girl landed on the opposite side of the street, her boots gracefully clicking on yet another wall, the yellow eyes of the girl staring at the goldfish struggling in her hands gleefully. The dark haired girl blushed and smiled at her catch.

"I got you, yes I did!~" She purred, opening her mouth and swallowing the goldfish whole, only the swishing tail sticking out of her mouth before she slurped it in. "Delicious!~" Watanuki gaped.

"She ate it! She ate the fish!" Watanuki couldn't believe it. Opening her mouth had drawn the cat-like girl's attention, her yellow eyes catching sight of the seer instantly, even as she licked her fingers. _Crap, I caught her gaze! _The girl leapt off the wall and landed in front of the raven, her fall extremely slow and graceful before her boots clicked on the ground. She leaned over and placed her hands on her knees to look at Watanuki closer, her eyes narrowed. Watanuki had no clue what to do at this point and just gaped again.

"Oh, so it is you." The girl recognized her! But Watanuki had never seen her before. "You're the one everyone's talking about in our world."

"'Our…world?'" Watanuki stumbled over her words as the girl leaned in even closer, almost within kissing distance (not that she'd kiss her or anything!).

"There's a big scramble over your eye right now." The girl continued, pointing her finger at Watanuki's eye patch.

"Huh?" Whatever she meant, it couldn't be good. The girl stood up straight and folded her arms, pouting.

"I want it too, but she'll get really mad, yes, she will."

"She?" Watanuki repeated. Before she could ask a single question, the girl's head flipped around, her nose twitching as she spotted another goldfish floating above the roof of the house next to them.

"There's another one!~" The girl skipped off, following the floating fish and leaping up onto the walls again.

"Wait a second!" Watanuki called after her. "What do you mean by 'scramble?!'"

"You should ask that girl!" The weirdo called back leaping into the air and catching the fish with both hands again, disappearing behind the trees and not emerging again.

"I don't know who you're talking about!" Watanuki called desperately, but the girl didn't come back or give her an answer.

At least when she told Yuko about, she gave her an answer.

"That was the Nekomusume, a cat girl."

"What. She was?" Watanuki had finally gotten to ask her questions after she'd made dinner and snack and cocktail. It was ridiculous just how pushy Yuko was, but now that she was lounging on the porch in her chair, playing chess with Mokona, the seer could finally ask her questions. Yuko moved one of her black chess pieces to put Mokona in a bind, fixing a strap of her very revealing, red dress as the creature sweated under her onslaught.

"She was chasing goldfish, right?" Yuko asked, reaching for her wine glass as Mokona planned its next move. Watanuki looked the witch's sexy outfit up and down once more as she fiddled with her serving tray, wondering if a piece of clothing should be called that when there was hardly any making up that dress. It was a backless dress with a gold collar that made up the halter, two separate pieces of cloth falling over Yuko's chest and splitting to reveal her stomach before closing up again around her hips, the skirt draping to the floor with huge slits up the side. The dress should've been called a boob-and-butt cover, and that was being gracious. "And cats love goldfish, don't they?"

"But do cat girls wear boots and miniskirts?" Watanuki asked, still confused as to how a mostly normal looking girl could be considered a cat-girl. She didn't even have cat ears or a tail…she just looked like a normal girl. Except for eating huge, floating goldfish, that is. Yuko polished off her glass of wine, her face turning serious as she ran one hand through her ponytail.

"So…the cat girl said that there is a scramble for your right eye, didn't she? In the spirit's world?" Yuko's cranberry eyes hooked onto Watanuki's single blue one.

"Yes." Watanuki nodded, worried about the whole situation.

"This have become a bit more complicated then." Apparently Yuko was worried about it too.

"What?"

"If we don't hurry, your right eye will never come back to you." The witch stated ominously, the look in her eyes scaring the girl a little bit. That look, combined with the new information that they'd received. That foreboding stayed with the girl all throughout the evening as she worked and it haunted her dreams and waking thoughts the next day at school, toning down her usually high strung personality. Especially when she was alone.

Watanuki was sweeping a corner of the school grounds by herself while the rest of the classes did chores in other areas of the building, lost in her thoughts and worries. She brushed at fallen leaves and some trash as she thought. She'd told Doumeki that she was fine with losing her eye for his sake and she'd even told herself that she'd gotten used to only having one eye, but…she'd lied to herself a little. She was completely fine helping Doumeki get his eye back, but having to live with that stupid patch and knowing that her eye might be lost forever was something she didn't want to happen, not really. She wanted her eye, but not at the expense of others, so if she lost it to protect whoever wanted to help her, so be it. But…there was still a chance to get it back, Yuko had said so. But would that even happen? Even if she did something? Or would she really lose it forever.

"It won't return, huh?" She whispered, turning to look at herself in the reflection of the window, staring at her self-imposed disfigurement.

"What'd you say?" Doumeki's reflection was suddenly encroaching on hers and the girl jumped, shivers running up her spine as her boyfriend nearly scared the shit out of her.

"Don't sneak up on people like that!" She snapped, baring her fangs.

"I've been standing here a while." Doumeki replied, having seen the girl sweeping for a few moment before glaring at herself. "Before you got lost in your our little world. So, what did you say?" The archer asked, wanting to know why Watanuki had said what she did. Watanuki's face dropped again, becoming the exact opposite of how she normally acted, and she didn't say a word. "Oi." Doumeki prompted, wanting her to explain herself, hating the fact that she was probably hiding something from him again, trying to protect him when she clearly needed help. But he never got to press her because Wari came running up, curls bouncing and with a huge smile on his face.

"Hey, Watanuki! Doumeki!" He called, waving.

"Wari!~" Watanuki jumped on the distraction, avoiding Doumeki's question and tried to smile brightly for her former crush.

"Are you done with your cleaning yet?" He asked.

"Mostly! I just have to take the trash out now." The girl replied.

"I'm all done too. I thought that maybe we could walk home together." Wari suggested.

"Sure!"

"Want to come along, Doumeki?" Wari asked his classmate. Watanuki whirled on the archer in shock.

"Sorry, I have club." Doumeki declined.

"Oh, that's too bad. Let's go home together next time then." Wari said with a smile, not seeing Watanuki making face's at Doumeki behind him. "Let's get going then, Watanuki." He finished, turning to the girl (who was now behaving perfectly).

"Sure! I'll be right back, so wait for me!" The girl ran off to take the trash out and grab her school bag.

"Watanuki seems to get it high spirits now." Wari commented.

"More like high idiocy." Doumeki shrugged.

"But I am worried about her right eye. She's been wearing that patch a while now. I hope it heals soon." The boy's smile disappeared for just a minute, showing Doumeki the worry that that damn idiot was causing for everybody because of her selfish choice. But, unable to do anything about it on his own, now that the spell for restoring Watanuki's eye had been destroyed, Doumeki left the pair alone to go to his club activities and try to think of something else.

On the way home, Wari asked Watanuki to tell him the story about the bookworm again, wondering about all the scary parts and asked if the girl had been scared at all.

"Oh yeah." Watanuki nodded.

"Really?"

"Yeah, really." The girl nodded. "I think you would've been scared too.

"But I actually like scary and mysterious things a lot."

"Oh, yeah." Watanuki's smile became a little strained at that statement, wondering how someone so sweet could like the stuff she had to deal with on an almost daily basis. "I forgot about that. But that's one of the things that makes you so wonderful!~"

"Actually, I really liked that program they had on TV a little while ago, the one about the spiritual seer girl. It was so cool!"

"Oh, a girl?" Watanuki asked, finding the whole situation familiar. Maybe this girl was just like she was.

"Her name's Kohane," Wari went one, a huge smile on his face. "She'd super cute." _But Wari is more than cute! _Watanuki gushed to herself, compromising the conversation with her own personal opinions. All too soon, they had to part ways at a crossroads.

"Well, my house is this way." Wari pointed down to the left of the intersection. Watanuki sighed dramatically.

"So, we have to split up already?" She whined.

"Yeah, time sure flies when you're having fun, doesn't it?" Wari asked, but Watanuki was too busy gushing over the fact that Wari had fun with her to answer. "Bye, Watanuki! See you tomorrow!" The boy started walking down the street, leaving the girl to go to her part-time job.

"See you tomorrow!" The girl waved, smiling happily, starting to walk away as well. "When he said he was having fun, he was having fun with me right?~ Being with Wari makes me really happy. He's so nice!" The raven's face dropped as Yuko's words flashed through her head again, the ones about Wari not being her luck. "So why did Yuko say that?" Before she could think about it any further, Watanuki's right eye did that thing again, her vision splitting suddenly. This time, she saw the flash of a girl with dark hair that looked to familiar to her…

The squealing of tires and the piercing ring of a car horn broke the girl's concentration and when she regained her senses, she saw a silver car ramming into a pedestrian, a woman with dark hair falling to the ground violently. _Is that what I was seeing…? _The driver was slumped over the wheel, having being caught by the air bag when the crash happened. The woman on the ground was struggling to move, bits of glass tingling down on top of her from the windshield of the car. Normally, Watanuki would've run up to see if she could help, but she was so disconnected at the moment that a few other people did that for her. She stared at the accident, not fully in control of herself until something smacked her head.

"Hey!" Watanuki snapped back into herself and glared up at whoever had hit her. It was Keith and his posse riding on their surf-board things, the spirit holding his huge paper fan, his sunglasses glinting. "Karasu Tengu?!"

"Everything is your fault!" Keith accused, frowning at the girl.

"It's all your fault!" Another of the Tengu shouted.

"What is going on!?" The girl didn't know why they were mad at her, she hadn't even accidently make Zashiki-Warish cry!

"Take us." Keith commanded.

"But there was just and accident!" Watanuki pointed to the car, finally back to her senses enough to be worried about the woman and the driver. She had to go help them!

"This isn't the place you should be." Keith stated, his voice deadly serious. "You shouldn't be here!" Watanuki was shocked, this wasn't any kind of mad that she'd seen him in before. He was furious. "Take us." He commanded again. Sirens could be heard in the distance now, an ambulance on its way to the crash.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Watanuki argued back ,not understanding what they were asking.

"To your mistress!" Keith yelled, baring his fangs in a threat.

"To…Yuko…?" The girl had never seen then like this. Something horrible must've happened to make Keith and the other's act this way, something that only Yuko could help fix. The ambulance arrived on the site of the crash, making the girl's choice for her. Now that those people were being helped, she would take Keith and the other's to Yuko's shop. So that's what she did.

Yuko received her guests outside on the porch, sitting in her wicker chair like it was a throne. Mokona was seated on the back and Maru and Moro were brushing the long strands of Yuko's hair that weren't up in her top bun. The woman looked at ease, even if her guests weren't, playing with the hem of her long sleeved white shirt, straightening one of the buttons that ran down the fabric as she listened to their request.

"We have a favor to ask." Keith started, acting as a spokesperson for all of the Tengu.

"Compensation will be required." Yuko uncrossed and re-crossed her legs, brushing her maroon skin down as he continued.

"We understand, but please…" The Tengu bowed in unison.

"What is your wish?" Yuko asked, getting right down to it.

"Zashiki-Warishi has been captured." He informed the witch, straightening up. Watanuki gasped in shock, thinking of her soft-spoken friend, horror clawing at her heart.

"We want to save her, but we can't approach where she is." Keith went on.

"Even though we want to save her, we can't." Another of the Tengu looked on the verge of tears as he spoke.

"So there is a barrier even the Karasu-Tengu can't break, is there?"

"Zashiki-Warishi is harmed by malicious miasma; it's like poison to her." Keith went on (5). "So if she stays in a place like that…held prisoner…" The Tengu didn't even want to finish.

"What compensation do you offer?" Yuko asked, willing to grant the wish if they could pay the price. The Tengu groups sank to their knees, four out of the five, bowing their heads to the ground in supplication and respect, asking with all their hearts and Keith held out a stunning fan to the witch. "Mokona." Yuko commanded. The furball opened its mouth and took in a huge breath, the winds pulling the fan through the air to Yuko, where she grabbed it handle to admire it. The fan was a bit longer than her forearm, with an ornate wood handle, a long string and tassel attacked to the end and a fan that looked like purple fire with a glowing orange and yellow center, the very middle accented with red and green. "The Tengu's fan." Yuko hummed (6), "It's your treasure, isn't it?"

"We would rather lose it than her. We can trade it, right?" Keith asked.

"That is acceptable." Yuko concluded. "I will grant your wish." The Tengu's faces lit up, smiles breaking out of their lips. "But, breaking a barrier doesn't require this much compensation, it's too much." Yuko hid half of her face behind her new fan. "Everything must be balanced, neither too much nor too little can be taken. That is why I'm sending my part-timer with you, as well as breaking the barrier that holds Zashiki-Warishi." Yuko pointed the fan at her employee, but before the girl could protest, the Tengu did it for her.

"But it's her fault that she was-!" Watanuki gasped again, wondering what on earth was going on. _How could I have…Zashiki-Warishi is in danger because of me?! _

"That may be true, but you will not be able to save Zashiki-Warishi on your own." Yuko went on, leaning forward in her chair. The Tengu shut up, hearing the truth in her words. "What will you do, Watanuki?" Yuko's eyes trained on the raven, letting her make the choice.

"I'll go." She answered immediately. It wasn't a choice at all.

"It will be dangerous." Yuko warned. Watanuki's mind was already made up.

"I'm going." She repeated, her eyes narrowing in determination. She would save Zashiki-Warishi. She would've done it anyway but now it was even more vital that she go, especially if it was her fault that the sprite was in danger. Yuko smiled, pleased with the girl's choice. She held out her arm and the pipe fox came slithering out of her clothes, leaping towards Watanuki and lovingly trying to squeeze the girl's arm off as it hugged her.

"Ow!" Watanuki gasped, wiggling around as she got used to the creature's squeeze again. "The pipe fox?"

"Take him with you." Yuko said as she held the Tengu's fan over her head, the long tassel on the handle swinging as she did so. Great gusts of wind emanated from the fan, the ropes whipping and winding around the seven figures in front of it. Watanuki and the Tengu had to throw their hands up to protect their faces from the onslaught, and Watanuki started screaming as the ropes melded into a swirling tornado, pulling the Tengu and her into it before the whirling column disappeared, leaving the yard shockingly quiet after the uproar. "That's the power of the Tengu's fan for you." Yuko commented, looking at the iridescent shine of the fan. It took them to the place where Zashiki-Warishi is in one swoop." Mokona leapt onto its mistress' lap.

"Was it alright for Mokona not to go too?" It asked, a worried expression on its face.

"This is something that Watanuki was come to understand on her own." Yuko replied ominously, watching the spot where her little slave had disappeared. _She has to learn this all on her own. That is the path she has chosen. _

To be continued…

A/N:That's all folks! I hope that was worth the extremely long wait. Let me know what you think and I'll see you all next time! ;3

Note 1: John Tenniel is the most recognizable illustrator of _Alice in Wonderland_ by Lewis Caroll. He was the second one to make illustrations for the book (besides the author himself) and his pictures were printed with the first editions of the book and are still used today. I have no clue who Dianne Aldman is, sorry guys. I can't find her work on Alice anywhere.

Note 2: Croquettes are a type fried food originating from France that has gained popularity worldwide. It's a food roll fried in breadcrumbs and can be filled with potatoes or ground meat as the main ingredients and then having shellfish, fish, cheese and vegetables mixed in as well with a béchamel or brown sauce. Depending on how it is prepared, croquettes can be considered a delicacy or a fast food.

Note 3: Gochisousama is a phrase you say after eating, it means "that was delicious" and is similar to Itadakimasu.

Note 4: Buta kakunidon is basically a braised pork rice bowl. Don is a Japanese rice bowl dish (also known a donburi) where the fish, meat and vegetables along with other ingredients are simmered together and then served over white rice.

Note 5: A miasma is a term used to a unpleasant or unhealthy smell or vapor, but it also refers to an unpleasant or oppressive atmosphere that surrounds or emanates for someone or something. The second definition is what Keith is using, but the first does apply since Watanuki gets sick from smelling a spirit's presence.

Note 6: A Tengu's fan is a magical object. It's not clearly stated what the fan can do, but it xxxHolic the fan can transport people places by wind/tornado. In the popular story, _The Tengu's Fan_, a troublemaker aquires a tengu fan that grows and strinks noses and he uses it on a lord's daughter, making her nose grow grotesquely long. He shrinks her nose to gain her hand in marriage, and then later, accidently fans himself while dozing, growing his nose so long it reaches up into the clouds, resulting in a lot of pain for him when people in the clouds start pulling on his nose. The story is also told with a raccon dog (tanuki) as the scoundrel.


	17. The Gift

A/N: ZareEraz here! Hi guys! I've got a really important announcement to make so listen up! A lot of things in my life have been happening all at once and I've had to deal with a lot of stress and grief, so since I've been so inconsistent lately, I thought it was time to take a break from writing. Also, I'm taking a leave of absence since I'm headed out on an extended trip that going to last more than a year, so I should be able to come back to write in fall of 2018. I wanted to let you guys know that I haven't fallen off the face of the earth and that I will be back. THANK YOU so much for supporting me for the three-four years that I've been writing and I hope that you will enjoy reading my stories until I come back. Happy Reading!

P.S. This was supposed to be a full chapter post, but since my life is crazy right now I never got to finish it. I did however, have the first half finished and thought I should post it to finish up the Spider's Grudge arc and give my story some sort of finality until I come back. So this will eventually be a full chapter but I thought I should post this for you all so that this particular storyline would wrap up. I'm not about to leave you completely hanging! ;3 Enjoy!

Chapter Sixteen: The Gift

"Mistress! Have a safe trip!" Maru called, as Yuko walked out of the shop's door, shrugging on a purple wrap over her white blouse. The twins were sweeping up the grounds and waved to their mistress as she left. Watanuki had disappeared with the Tengu just a short while earlier and in Yuko's appropriate haste, she'd sent off her cook without having had dinner, or even a snack, to tide her over. So she was going out to shop.

"Mistress, have fun!" Moro called out as well. The witch was checking her watch, the train schedule running through her head as she walked out of the shop's front gate and onto the street.

That was where she met her visitor.

"Well, hello there, Doumeki." The witch greeted the man with a smile. Doumeki looked trouble, which was saying something because Doumeki hardly ever _looked_ like something. The stoic man was standing in the middle of the street, apparently waiting for someone.

"Are you leaving?" The archer asked. At this point, Yuko concluded that he was waiting for either her, or Watanuki, so it was best to inform him that they both were gone.

"Yes, I'm doing the shopping today since Watanuki is absent." The woman replied civilly, stepping forward to have a conversation with the young man. The fact that he didn't inquire as to where Watanuki was finished the woman's deduction for her. "Since you're waiting here…I assume you have some business with me? In this desolate place." Yuko could see what Doumeki was seeing, knowing just how her shop looked to those who had no real need of her services. The shop didn't exist at all, not even a breaking foundation or a sign that a building was there. The fence didn't exist either, only the two rotted main posts were still standing, acting like guards for the weed filled lot behind her. There was absolutely nothing on that lot that alluded to a shop, at least, nothing Doumeki could see.

"I don't see anything besides withered grass and weeds." He stated, staring at what he could see. And yet, Watanuki came here every day, to this spot that held nothing and for once, Doumeki wanted to see what she could see, even if it was frightening.

"Doumeki," Yuko continued. "You have no need of my shop; therefore you also have no need to see it. So…what business have you brought me, I wonder?" The woman's smile grew, intrigued by his actions.

"Will Watanuki's eye never return?" He asked, the question having been tormenting him since they'd lost the spell book to the book worm, and even more so since that afternoon when Watanuki had been so despondent about it.

"What would make you think that?" The witch asked, her voice even, her eyes steady.

"She was murmuring something about it at school," He admitted, his eyes changing from frustrated to worried. "While looking at her reflection in the window."

"I see." Yuko nodded. She saw the worry that the girl's actions were putting Doumeki through and she was a little worried herself. But no matter the outcome, it was inevitable. It was also Watanuki's choice. Futures had a funny way of shifting with the slightest actions, and this time would be no different. The two of them stared at each other for a moment, coming to a silent understanding. "Watanuki…she needs to understand, doesn't she?" Yuko murmured, her thoughts being pulled towards the peril that lay ahead for the girl once she reached her destination.

The swirling winds of the Tengu's fan whipped about Watanuki, obscuring everything within her field of vision…mostly because the tempest had yanked out the girl's hair tie and now her hair was plastered to her head. She kept screaming until her voice ran out as she was thrown about with the Karasu Tengu, unable to hold onto anything (or anyone for that matter) for a few long, breathless moments and then suddenly, the winds stopped. Watanuki was left standing on a hill with the Tengu, the winds of the fan billowing away now that their job was done, politely throwing Watanuki's hair out of her face as it did so. The Tengu had fallen into a heap behind the girl as she turned around, taking in her surroundings. They were in a huge field of rolling hills, and the only distinguishable thing there was was a huge, three story building in front of them, and it looked like it used to be some sort of light color, but the whole building was dark and dank, like someone had smudged it. The structure was kind of V shaped, with the front entrance at the angle, all the windows were smashed or completely missing and it had a huge fence around it. It looked like it had been a beautiful building at one point but it looked abandoned…and the air was thick with something…poisonous.

"Where are we?" The seer breathed, overwhelmed by the presence surrounding the building. The pipe fox wriggled out from in between the girl's small breasts, emerging from her jacket to hiss at the building, his little face screwed up in anger, fur bristling. "What's wrong?" Watanuki asked. "There's some kind of aura…"

"It's a malicious miasma." Keith supplied, breathing heavily as he and the other Tengu tried to regain their strength under the oppression of the aura.

"It's leaking out of the building." Another Tengu continued. The pipe fox slithered up to Watanukis neck and wrapped itself around her, still hissing and growling.

"She's in there, right?" Watanuki asked, having a feeling that Zashiki-Warishi was inside, waiting for someone to help her.

"That's right." Keith nodded. Watanuki nodded and started walking up the hill towards the building, her footsteps scuffing against the barren ground.

"Wait! The one who caught Zashiki-Warishi is…" A Tengu started.

"-Not someone you can fight against!" Keith finished, both still weak and unable to chase after the girl.

"You're probably right." Watanuki agreed, but she was determined to finish this job and save her friend, no matter how scared she was. "But Yuko sent me along…so there must be something I can do." Her logic was sound, Yuko was rarely (if ever) wrong about these things. The Tengu could do nothing to stop the girl.

Watanuki walked up to the building, her heart beating faster as she approached the aura, coming up to the fence's entrance but unable to go any further. _I can't see anything…but…_the girl brought her hand up and pressed it against an invisible barrier that blocked her way. _But there's something here. _She had to figure out a way to get past this barrier, but what could she do? She was only good for sensing spirits and getting in big trouble. Just then, the pipe fox started to move again, unwinding from the raven's neck and twisting his body around, growing bigger and unfolding into his true form. The creature took on his big appearance – that of a regal, nine-tailed fox – and stood by his favorite's side. The fox's slim snout opened slightly, fire licking at his teeth as the flames grew, burning hotly. The fox swung his head back and then threw it forward, tossing his flames at the building, the fire surging past the barrier and setting the walls on fire. The whole structure was ablaze, the orange flamed lighting up the diming sky of sunset with color unrivaled. The fox whined, looking at his person and Watanuki bent down to scratch his chin in gratitude. She could feel that the pipe fox's actions had gotten rid of the barrier surrounding the building.

"Thank you." She whispered, petting her loyal companion. Without saying a word, Watanuki started walking towards the dilapidated building, the pipe fox right by her side as they disappeared into the flames, passing by unscathed.

"The pipe fox broke the barrier." A Tengu whispered, impressed by the spirit.

"But if they go in…" Another said.

"She won't stay quiet." A third added.

"Even so, we much wait." The forth continued.

"For her to save Zashiki-Warishi." Keith finished, watching the pair vanish.

As soon as they were inside, the flames on the outside of the building ceased to burn, leaving it looking much the same as it had. The interior was just as messed up as the exterior had been: all the light fixtures were broken, most of the furniture was gone but what was left was falling apart and all the shattered window's glass was lying on the floor, getting broken underfoot as Watanuki walked through the lobby, the click of her shoes echoing in the huge space. The head of a broken statue was lying on the ground, pieces of the once beautiful woman's body scattered everywhere and Watanuki looked around carefully, sensing the ominous presence growing all around her. _The spiritual aura is even stronger in here than it was outside. _The girl grimaced as the smell of rot and death reached her nose. It was revolting, but with a sickly sweet after note that had her gagging, ready to throw up. Watanuki pinched her nose shut to keep out the smell but found that it made its way into her mouth, sticking to her throat and lungs. Begrudging used to being around these types of auras, the girl focused on finding the source of the miasma, that would lead her to Zashiki-Warishi. She could feel where the presence was strongest as she made her way to a huge stairwell, leaning over the rail and looking down into the depths of the mansion, white mists rising up from the darkness. _It's strongest…_

"Down there." She said out loud, grimacing against as she saw the aura physically waft up from the basement, the stairs themselves extending downward for three or four floors. She started walking down the stairs with the pipe fox, knowing that that's where she had to go, even if she was afraid to meet whoever had taken her friend, going deeper into the darkness as the natural light of the dying day gave way to the night. She made it down one floor before feeling the chill of the presence licking at her body heat, starting to freeze her hands. Watanuki brought her cold hands up to her mouth to breathe warm air onto them and them together, trying to stay warm. "It's like being in a freezer." She shivered. The pipe fox whined, concerned for his favorite. "I'm fine. Don't you worry. Let's go." Watanuki smiled at him and they continued walking.

She had to use the rail now to keep herself upright, the cold numbing her body and the aura pressing down on her consciousness. Her body felt heavy as she walked, trying to get her brain to focus on taking one careful step and then another, but despite that, she was stumbling. Her good eye was starting to slide shut, everything about this place enticing her to give in and fall asleep. She slipped on a step again, having the grab onto the railing with both hands and her eye snapped open for just a moment as she reached the second landing, the pipe fox already waiting for her. _When did he get there? I thought he was right next to me. _Everything was spinning down, her vision starting to go, she tried to take the three steps down to the landing one at a time, but she took them all at once, falling onto her hands and her elbows as she started to black out. Glass tinkled around her as she fell onto it and the cracking floor. The swirling got worse, morphing into a vortex of gray and black. She was going to pass out soon.

"Damn." Watanuki shook her head, trying to clear it, but that wasn't enough. "I'm going to pass out at this rate…I can't do that." _There's only one thing I can do…to keep myself…from falling…asleep…_The girl reached out, blindly groping for a piece of glass. She picked up a thick shard as long as her hand and pointed at both ends, holding one of the jagged sides against her palm. She took a deep breath, and squeezed her hand shut, using the other hand to add pressure. The glass bit into her skin, slicing open her palm and sending a rush of blood down her wrist and adrenaline through her system. The pain woke her up, keeping her drowsiness at bay for a little while longer. Watanuki stood up on shaky legs and started down the stairs again, holding onto the glass in case she needed to wake herself up again. Her eyes narrowed in determination as she stepped forward again. "I have to take her back with me. I'm going to save you." She whispered, her hand throbbing, her body cold.

Each step was a chore now, balanced perfectly between pain and numbness, neither giving her any respite. Watanuki descended the last two floors, her bloody hand on the rail, dripping blood onto the stairs, her other hand on the pipe fox to keep herself upright. Finally in the basement, the white mist that was floating in the air was starting to become like a fog, the concentration of miasma even stronger than it had been. The girl didn't know which was to go, the presence equally threatening in all directions. Thank goodness the pipe fox could sense better than the seer, considering the state she was in, because he turned to the right and growled, hackles raised, fangs bared as he pointed in the direction of the aura's source. There were two double doors at the end of the hallway, lit by and eerie light and Watanuki was thankful that she didn't have to waste energy searching all the rooms. The mist was seeping out of that room from the cracks under the doors. The girl slowly made her way down the hall, the fox at her side supporting her until she reached the door. Watanuki leaned all her weight into the door, pushing with all her might to force it open. It creaked and started to move. She pushed harder and the door moved a little more, the mists turning into a strong gust as it was released from the confines of the room. Watanuki shoved a little harder, moving the heavy door even further open, the gust getting stronger as well until the door was most of the way open. Once everything had quieted down again, Watanuki cast her eyes around the dimly lit ballroom that she'd found, decked out with Grecian pillars (crumbly though they may be) and found exactly what she'd been looking for.

"Zashiki-Warishi!" Watanuki ran inside the ballroom with the pipe fox, completely forgetting about her fatigue and stared up at the spider's web that stretched across the ceiling, the kimono-clad sprite strung up in the middle of it. She looked alright, lying on the webs like she was sleeping, her legs and arms dangling downwards, but she was unconscious and didn't stir to the girl's call at all. Her torso was completely caught in the webs, her kimono sleeves plastered with the stuff and from what the raven could see from her angle, her neck was wrapped in threads, so if she moved, the sprite would be strangled before she got free. Watanuki gasped, not believing what she was seeing, and she'd seen some scary shit.

"Oh! The idols herself appears! You're a cute girl, just like the rumor's say." A sickly sweet voice cooed. It was high pitched and light, but creepy enough to have the girl on edge as her head snapped in the direction of the voice. The pipe fox growled deeply as the girl caught sight of a beautiful woman sitting on a wall that seemed to be the edge of an orchestra pit, the blonde causally uncrossing and re-crossing her fishnet clad legs. She was stunning, a bombshell in a purple-almost black baby doll dress whose straps were falling off her shoulders and a red bow tied under her boobs with the ends of the ribbons tied around her ribcage and then fluttered behind her back where they cascaded to the floor. The dress was paired with fishnet stocking that clung to her pale calves and thighs and with matching sleeves that extended from wrist to bicep with dashes of lace at both ends. The woman's blonde hair fell to her mid-back, curling on the ends with a set of straight bangs at her forehead. The spirit's face was that of an angel: huge eyes with pupils so wide her eyes were almost black and full, red lips that looked like they were constantly puckered, but not obnoxiously so. One of the spirit's arms was draped across her thighs, and then other elbow was resting on that arm, her chin placed on top of the back of her hand, fingers dangling gracefully with a set of purple nails that could've gouged anyone's eyes out.

"Who are you!?" Watanuki demanded, allured and threatened just by the woman's very presence. The pipe fox was all riled up again, crouching low to the ground and growling even louder, his claws twitching like he wanted to tear her apart.

"A part of you already knows the answer." The spirit replied, sitting up straight and holding out her right hand. As she uncurled her fingers, Watanuki's vision split again and she was at once, watching the woman open her hand, and having the darkness of her right eye lifted so that she was staring at her own shocked face. Floating in the woman's hand was her right eye, glowing in its own halo of light. Her eye didn't look like her eye anymore, but more like a luminous blue marble with white mist swirling around it. It was grotesquely beautiful.

"That's…" Watanuki gasped. The woman brought her hand up to hold her eye in between her index finger and thumb.

"Your right eye." Watanuki's bloody hand came up to touch her medical eye patch horrified that she could have her physical eye and that woman her actual vision manifested as a physical object. "It seems that everyone wants your right eye, so there is quite a struggle for it." The woman's fingers let her eye go and she caressed the halo of light gently, the eye moving with her hand depending on if it went higher or lower. She gazed at the eye with fascination and satisfaction. "A being like me can have their power increase exponentially by acquiring it…that' something that most treasures can't even accomplish these days." She said it so matter-of-factly! Like this wasn't a living person's eye she was talking about! Watanuki stumbled, the shock of seeing her own eye in the hands of a spirit, combined with the woman's malicious aura was too much for the girl. _Shit, her energy is… _

"I am the one who acquired it, especially since my patron deities are Yatagarasu and Fuuri (1). It took a lot of effort. But then again, it might be all going according to plan." The woman continued, her other hand coming up to pet her precious find while the other on held it from below. Watanuki huffed at the woman angrily, unable to do much of anything else while under the influence of her noxious miasma. "The spider whose grudge you fell under was one of my kinsmen."

"Kinsmen? Then that means…" Watanuki knew of a demon who was related to spiders and their kind. She was a..

"I am the one who presides over spiders." The woman revealed, a long silk thread dropping down from the ceiling silently next to her. The demon took hold of the thread and it pulled her upright as they both rose towards the ceiling, the woman's toes gracefully pinching the end of the string. She smiled with her eyes closed as she rose into the mass of webs that spanned the ceiling, her beauty becoming something truly terrible once she was in her element. "In the old days, people used to call me Jorogumo (2)." The pipe fox growled more fiercely at the mention of the woman's old name. The Jorogumo studied the fox with mild interest, as if she'd met him somewhere before. "Ah, the pipe fox is angry, isn't he? I had heard that he'd moved away from Ame-Warishi's place, but it seems like he still as an attachment to her friend, doesn't he?" Jorogumo had reached the height that Zashiki-Warishi was lying at, walking across the web in the air with no difficulty. She circled around the defenseless sprite and causally leaned over her prone form. "Zashiki-Warishi is, in a way, your patron deity, isn't she? She came to get this eye that had been passed onto me when she heard about it."

"It was quite amusing actually. She'd come to me while I was resting, bowing like her little good girl self had been taught to saying, 'Please, give me her eye. Please.' And I asked the sweet thing why she was asking for it: did she want it for herself or because she liked the owner of the eye? I left her quite unable to answer, I do that with a lot of people, but I came up really close to her, like this," the Jorogumo leaned down just a little closer to Zashiki-Warishi, each condescending word pricking at Watanuki's heart as she imagined just how much Zashiki-Warishi had to go through for her, "and told her that she was so cute, that she couldn't help but want to help her precious little girlfriend. And then I told her no. And when she asked why, her cute little face almost in tears, I told her it was because I was mean. She was quite unable to gather herself after that." Jorogumo gently caressed the sprite's face, resting her hand on the girl's head softly, continuing to talk, her voice continuing to become more and more annoying to Watanuki. "She must've known just how difficult meeting me within my miasma would be, and yet, she still came."

"Please…give it back…" Zashiki-Warishi's soft voice floated down, the girl still pleading, even while she was unconscious. Hearing those heartfelt pleas had Watanuki running before she even knew what she was doing, all she knew is that she had to save the girl who'd risked so much for her.

"Don't move." Jorogumo ordered as Watanuki ran towards the spot on the floor under the sprite. To back up her command, she shot a thick web of spiders silk at the girl, causing her to duck and stumble to dodge the attack. "Oh, my." The demon noted, having her threads whip back around to strike Watanuki's spine from behind, knocking the air out of the raven and causing her to nearly fall to the ground. Watanuki cried out in pain, that being all the air she had left in her body. Now that she couldn't move, a whole hoard of webs was headed the girl's way. The pipe fox was by her side in an instant, using his nine tails to whip the threads back and protect his favorite person as they attacked against and again. It all happened in an instant and Watanuki threw her hands up to protect her face as she caught her breath. The attacks paused for a moment, but the pipe fox sensed that it wasn't over and jumped to the seer's other side, protecting her again as the webs tried to strike her back again.

"Now, now, I just don't want you moving around." Jorogumo tsked, the web she was standing on starting to shoot threads out all around Watanuki, creating a cage lightning fast as the girl swiveled to find and exit in time. There wasn't one. She was completely trapped as the threads closed her in, one of them wrapping around her neck savagely from behind hind, choking the girl even as she tried to pull it off of her. More webs slung themselves around her, entangling her torso and chest, her legs and arms, until she could hardly move at all, her breath short again and her body aching in the vice grip it was held in.

"I caught you." Jorogumo's voice didn't change pitch or tone, but her words sounded excited. It was like Doumeki's voice – it never really changed, but you could tell by the slightest inflection what he was feeling, only hers was prickly and sweet at the same time, while his was flat. "A spider's web is strong; you won't be able to pull it off with your measly strength." The spider woman teased mirthlessly. Watanuki struggled to take in a single breath, wriggling against the threads as much as she could, but Jorogumo was right: she couldn't break free. Luckily, the pipe fox came charging by, his mouth full of fox fire, blasting it at all the threads around them, and at the ones holding Watanuki prisoner, burning the threads without causing any harm to the girl. Watanuki pulled what remained off of her and took a huge breath, filling her lungs, holding her tender neck and glaring at the spider woman. The demon giggled, her fingers drifting to Zashiki-Warishi's neck.

"Fox fire and a spider's silk never really did go together," She chuckled. She pointed her index finger at Zashiki-Warishi's throat, her nail lengthening and sharpening, her other hand holding the sprite's head in place from behind, the threat of death plain to see. "Stop the pipe fox." She ordered. Watanuki was backed up against a wall now, she had to do what the Jorogumo ordered, but she didn't want. Charging ahead blindly would get the sprite killed, and she didn't want anyone else to get hurt because of her…not Doumeki or Wari or Yuko or Zashiki-Warishi! Watanuki squeezed her eyes shut tightly, willing herself to make the best choice for everyone, but especially the sprite. She also didn't want to lose Zashiki-Warishi, she didn't want to lose her friend…The pipe fox was growling, his mouth brimming with more fire as Jorogumo's webs floated in the air, creeping towards the girl, ready to strike once she gave up.

"Pipe fox, stop!" Watanuki ordered harshly, knowing just what kind of situation she was in. The fox whined sadly, the fire disappearing from his jaws. The girl knew that he was confused because he was helping, he really was, but things had taken a turn for the worst. "I'm sorry for yelling." The raven apologized, sad that she had to do it that way.

"Thank you very much." Jorogumo smiled as her demands were met. "You're quite kind, you know?" The webs threw themselves on the girl, entangling her again and this time they wrapped her arms behind her, truly trapping her and pulling her up into the air, constricting her even more as her feet left the ground. "Those threads are called spider silk." Jorogumo explained, as if she were teaching a lesson. "It's because of those threads that spiders are able to leap wherever they want. It's the strongest type of thread." As Watanuki came level with Zashiki-Warishi, the spider woman retracted her nail and walked across her web like she hadn't a care in the world, not even holding onto anything as she came right in front of the raven. She sat down on another set of webs, the threads holding her weight like a hammock would. Watanuki had no interest in knowing anything that Jorogumo said besides what concerned Zashiki-Warishi, so she didn't reply.

"You're not interested?" the woman asked. "Too bad." She reached up and placed her hand on Watanuki's cheek, as if to caress a child.

"Please let Zashiki-Warishi go." Watanuki got back to the point of her coming, keeping a firm face now that she was directly facing her enemy. The spider woman's eyes widened in shock, showing some of the blue she had around the edges of her huge pupils, but the rest of her expression didn't change.

"Not 'Give me back my right eye?'" She queried.

"It was my fault for falling under the grudge," Watanuki admitted, thinking that she'd done the right thing for saving Doumeki. Jorogumo withdrew her hand as the girl spoke, watching her carefully. "So you can do whatever it is you want with my right eye…but please, give Zashiki-Warishi back."

Jorogumo giggled, demurely bringing her right hand up to her face and lengthening her nail again. Watanuki flinched at the threat, but the blonde just sat down next to the sprite and then leaned over the girl, tapping her elongated nail over her heart. "But you know…Zashiki-Warishi herself is quite the treasure in this world too." Watanuki growled at the Jorogumo as she toyed with her emotions. "If you eat her heart, it is said to extend your lifespan by a hundred years." The woman gave her a look like she was thinking about eating the sprite's heart right now. Watanuki's heart leapt into her throat, the thought of losing Zashiki-Warishi after all the effort and worry she'd gone through was unbearable. She couldn't even begin to comprehend the sadness that would cause the Tengu, Ame-Warishi, the pipe fox and everyone else who cared about the girl. She couldn't let that happen no matter what! What could she give the demon that could possibly be more valuable than Zashiki-Warishi?!

"If-If my right eye is valuable, then what about the rest of me!?" Watanuki scrambled for a reason to change Jorogumo's mind. It was the only thing she could think of. The woman's eye narrowed, thinking the offer over for a second. Watanuki knew that she was offering to be blind for Zashiki-Warishi's sake, and that was scary, but what else could she do? She had nothing but the clothes on her back. "How about it?!"

"Well, of course, I'd love to complete the set if I could; that would be amazing." Jorogumo gracefully jumped to her feet, her spiders thread catching her like she was on a swing standing up, and she glided over to the girl again.

"Then I'll give you my left eye as well, so please…give Zashiki-Warishi back." Watanuki swallowed after she'd laid out her terms, still terrified but ready to accept the consequences. She didn't let her face show any of her fears as she stared Jorogumo in the eyes.

"Is she that important to you?" The blonde asked.

"I've only met her a few times, but I think she's a nice person," Watanuki explained. "And the Karasu Tengu dearly love her. That's why I have to get her back." Jorogumo kept staring at her, not saying a word. Watanuki was out of ideas. Jorogumo wasn't the kind of person who could be played for sympathy so the only thing she could do was to offer whatever power her body had. That seemed to be the only thing the demon was interested in. "If my left eye isn't enough…then the rest of my body…" She was asking to die for Zashiki-Warishi and that was not the scariest thing she'd ever done. If Jorogumo accepted…well, she tried not the think about that.

"I hate that." The spider woman answered immediately, but not with the answer that Watanuki was expecting. The girl didn't know what to say. "I hate things like that." Jorogumo sighed, looking bored all of a sudden. "You're throwing away your life, just like that." She swung closer to the girl, her hand coming up to pinch the raven's chin and yank her face up.

"Do you think that something you can throw out so easily can be exchanged for something important?" Her words hit Watanuki like a truck, forcing the girl to reexamine what she'd just done. "Even Zashiki-Warishi tried so hard to get you eye back for you, and yet, you're about to throw that out too, without a second thought. You must think that she'd a fool, trying to protect that which you treat as trash." The woman gave Watanuki a look that bore deep into her soul, her dark black eyes criticizing her actions, condemning them.

"Not true!" Watanuki shouted.

"Sure it is." Jorogumo argued dispassionately, letting go of her chin and leaning back on her web swing. "Just look, even the pipe fox is extremely worried for you sake." Both women looked down at the spirit and Watanuki's heart broke a little as the spirit paced back and forth, looking up at them and whining, obviously worried. "There are other too, right? People who care for you dearly?" Doumeki's face flashed through her mind first, then Yuko and Wari…Maru, Moro, Mokona, Zashiki-Warishi, the pipe fox and many others. "Without even understanding that, you don't place any value upon yourself. You dislike others being hurt and yet you allow yourself to hurt. You don't even know how much it hurts someone else who cares for you to see you injured." Doumeki's expression upon finding out she'd taken on the spider's grudge was the next image she saw, all the hurt plain in his eyes. She'd hurt him by doing what she'd done and then to top it all off, they fought and lost all hope for remedying the situation on their own. Watanuki realized that it wasn't just the spider webs that where holding her down, she'd entangled herself in a web of contradiction and betrayal by her own actions and thoughts. She'd tried to betray all of her friends, the people she loved more than herself, by throwing away her own life. She'd tried to hurt all those people.

"I hate things like that." Jorogumo finished, watching the girl. _I hate you and your way of thinking. _That's what she was really saying. Watanuki's expression hardened, finally coming to an understanding of just what she'd done, what she tried to do again. If she didn't return, what would Zashiki-Warishi think? Would she think that she'd gotten Watanuki killed trying to come and help her? Would Doumeki blame himself for her death because he hadn't found the spell to save her eye sooner? Would Yuko regret granting her wish in the first place? "And so, your offer is rejected." Jorogumo smiled, like she hadn't a care that she'd caused so much suffering by taking Zashiki-Warishi and then lecturing her other prisoner. This woman thrived off of pain, Watanuki could tell. She hated things like that. And she wasn't going to stand for it any longer.

"Oh dear, did I make you cry?" The spider woman asked, as the girl's breathing grew heavier, sounding similar to a soft sob. She leaned in closer again, trying to see the tears. "Let me see your cute, crying face." The demon's finger tapped her chin again, forcing it up, but what Jorogumo thought she was going to see and what actually happened were very different. Without her knowing, Watanuki had freed herself from the spider's webs. She cut through the threads with the shard of glass that she'd kept with her and thrust her weapon and newly bloodied hand right into the Jorogumo's face, nearly cutting her as well. That was the first time the woman's face had ever shown true shock, her eye wide, her mouth open in surprise as she was threatened by the prey she'd captured.

"Please free Zashiki-Warishi." Watanuki asked politely, her threat in her actions and the webs fell away from her right arm. The look of surprise morphed into a demur smile.

"I like things like this." Jorogumo answered. Watanuki was done playing games and trying to suck to this monster. Jorogumo wasn't going to let them go easily if she could help it, so now it was time for force.

"Pipe fox!" Watanuki called to her ally and the fox leapt into the air, coming level with them in just one jump, shooting a fireball at the Jorogumo. She dodged the blast, her thread pulling her up above all of them, spinning smoothly as she retreated to the ceiling. With her bonds cut, Watanuki freed herself the rest of the way and used the webs holding her up to swing over to Zashiki-Warishi, slicing through the threads that held her and grabbing her waist. They fell towards the ground and as they did so, Watanuki glared at Jorogumo, taking back what was most important.

"How wonderful." The demon smiled again as the pair hit the ground. Watanuki's legs ached from catching not only herself, but the sprite too, the girl still unconscious in her arms. The pipe fox landed next to them, taking a spot in front so he could protect his favorite. "You rescued the princess. Fine, I'll give her back to you…but I am taking this." The spider woman held up Watanuki's right eye, the orb still glowing rightly in the dim light of the ball room, giving Jorogumo an even more ghastly appearance as it deepened the shadows on her face. Watanuki watched in morbid shock as the woman opened her red lips and swallowed her eye. The girl could even see what the inside of her throat looked like, the darkness and suffocating space. She wished it was her hands that were at the woman's throat, not her eye. But all too soon, the darkness was absolute and Watanuki knew that she'd never get her eye back. She placed her left hand over her lost eye, trying to block out the loss but she knew she never could.

"That was delicious." Jorogumo purred, loving the look of despair and pain on the girl's face. The pipe fox roared in anger, unleashing his fury at the woman who'd hurt his favorite person, letting volley after volley of fox fire charge at the woman, her hair floating elegantly behind her as the wind and fire roared around her. The Jorogumo's webs burst into flames, melting and burning around the woman and she sighed in disappointment as her beautiful web was assaulted. "Truly, spider webs and fox fire don't mix well."

"It's about time for me to go." She called down to the trio, holding onto her last thread as the fires swirled around her, closing in. "I'll see you again." She finished, ending on a threatening note as she disappeared, dispersing the flames easily with her escape. Watanuki watched her go, glaring at the spot where the Jorogumo had vanished, but just as quickly as she'd fled, the girl exhaustion caught up to her. She fell to the floor heavily, losing consciousness, Zashiki-Warishi falling with her. Before she passed out, the girl could dimly hear the voices of the Karasu Tengu floating around her and feel the pipe fox nudging her face, trying to get her to wake up. All the voices were talking about something…oh, the miasma disappeared…and…they were asking if Zashiki-Warishi was okay…and the pipe fox was whining again…and then…nothing.

The Tengu that burst into the room had been waiting for the moment that they could help, but there were others as well that had been waiting and that someone else was visiting Yuko right at about the same time that Watanuki entered the mansion's front door. That person rang the doorbell to Yuko's shop, her poofy dress casting a long shadow through the door's window panels. After ringing the bell, the girl didn't hesitate to step inside uninvited, she had announced her presence and that's all that mattered to her. She stomped down the hallway, mouth frowning, her red, curly ponytails bouncing angrily as she threw the doors open to the room where she'd heard someone inside. Ame-Warishi found Yuko, Maru, Moro and Mokona all sitting on a huge white sheet, working on building models, like they didn't have a care in the world. Mokona was singing a nonsense tune while it spray painted several model parts gray, a mask covering its mouth along with most of its stomach, the ties stretching around its body like an apron string. It was the first to acknowledge the sprite's entrance.

"Yo! Long time no see, Ame-Warishi!" The furball greeted the girl, its voice muffled a little by the mask.

"Welcome!" The twins called, looking up from punching out the bits that Mokona had to color. Yuko was working on painting and putting some pieces together of what seemed to be a ship, her white apron stained with little bits of gray and blue.

"Oh, did you want to help too?" The witch asked, pausing in her work. "We're doing a 1:200 scale Yamato. It's a battle ship and aircraft carrier of WWII. There's also a Nagato if you want that one instead."

"You've got free time?" Ame-Warishi questioned, narrowing her eyes. She was fairly certain that Yuko knew what was going on – the Tengu had said they were coming here for help in saving Zashiki-Warishi – but the insufferable woman was making models!

"You could say that, but you could also say I'm incredibly busy." Yuko responded to the sprite's harshness with a noncommittal statement. "Just as you are, right?" Her voice smoothed out, taking on that quality that suggested that she knew every reason that Ame-Warishi was here. The sprite sighed, knowing that Yuko had a point, and walked onto the sheet, sitting down in between Mokona and the twins.

"I'm not going to help, mind you." She huffed, holding onto her umbrella tightly. An hour or so passed in peace, four of the five people in the room working and the other sitting, waiting. Once most of the models were done, Maru and Moro started playing with each other, the blue-haired twin grabbing a blue Tachikoma (3) from the completely models and the pink haired twin grabbing the Yamato to play with, pushing the complex ship along the floor.

"Oh where could you be going, Yamato?" The robot asked the ship.

"I'm off for a trip to the sea! What about you, Tachikoma?" The Yamato asked the robot.

"I'm just going to quell some terrorist movements." Maru replied.

"My! How splendid!" To anyone else, the conversation was ridiculous, but to those two, it was the most normal thing. Yuko smiled as she sipped her tea, lounging gracefully in her chair at a small table Watanuki had left in there the last time she took tea in this room. Ame-Warishi was still sitting by the open doors of the room, near the porch, having been asked to sit on her customary reed mat to protect the floors from moisture, and for once, she didn't complain. She had much bigger things to worry about.

"The one who goes and the one who stays behind." Yuko mused, watching the sprite. They'd both worked and sat in relative silence the entire duration of Ame-Warishi's visit, but they were both in the same position essentially. "I wonder which one is more occupied." The Goth Loli didn't reply. "But it doesn't matter now. They seem to be fine." Yuko revealed that someone she knew that everyone was okay.

"They are?" The sprite said as she turned to watch the woman's face, gauging if she was lying or not, her eyes hopeful.

"They will return soon." Yuko replied. Ame-Warishi leapt to her feet, ready to check on her friend's well being, but then she hesitated, and sat back down, her grip tightening on her umbrella. "What's wrong?"

"She said that she'd do it alone." Ame-Warishi answered, thinking about the fight that she and Zashiki-Warishi had gotten into, right before this whole mess had started. "Because I had said that I wouldn't help…I will wait…until everything is over."

"To go it alone, to cause less trouble for those around you…and to wait and endure the time spent apart because you understand that feeling…it must've been had for you both." Yuko's voice was soft and sweet, also understanding because she'd been on the waiting and going side many times in her long life.

"I'm fine." Ame-Warishi replied, knowing that that was the way things were.

"That's right." Yuko set down her tea cup. "Everything it split evenly, half-half. It is impossible for one said to shoulder everything, otherwise, the world would tilt to one side and everything would collapse." That was the order of the universe, and everything must be in balance for the world to continue as it was. That's the law that governed all living things, the law that Yuko adhered to in her life and her dealings with other people. And, even unconsciously, all other humans did the same as much as possible. That's just the way things were.

Ame-Warishi left soon after that, heading back to her mountain home to greet Zashiki-Warishi if she wasn't already there. Yuko had her own preparations to take care of, for the return on her own charge. She bid the sprite farewell and got to work.

Watanuki floated in the darkness for a while, not feeling anything or hearing anything. But that was okay. She had a lot of things to think about and this blackness allowed her to do so. She thought about Zashiki-Warishi and the Jorogumo, the woman's words about value and thinking of one's self floated around with her. She thought of Yuko, who probably knew this was all going to happen, one way or another and she thought about Doumeki too. She thought about what she was going to say to him, to apologize for all the pain she'd caused him, all the unnecessary hurt. She hoped that he would forgive her.

But suddenly, the girl's time in the darkness with her thoughts was interrupted by the feel of her actual body floating in something and something wet falling on her face. The girl woke slowly her eyes opening, but only one of them actually seeing what was in front of her, her patch missing. She was lying on Zashiki-Warishi's lap, the sprite cradling her head and neck, her other hand holding onto her bloody one. They were lying in the pond of Zashiki-Warishi's mountain – that's why she felt floaty and wet. But it was also because the girl's tears were falling on her face.

"Oh, thank goodness! I thought you wouldn't ever open your eyes." The sprite's face held nothing but concern for the seer, her hand tightening its grip on her fingers. Watanuki vaguely thought about how Zashiki-Warishi had taken off her pink, over kimono and was just sitting in her yellow under-robe, and it was getting wet in the pond and how her hand might be getting blood on the cloth, but her brain wasn't quite with her yet. "I was so scared…"

"You lost consciousness because of Jorogumo's malicious miasma." A Tengu piped up from the shore of the pond, drawing the girl's returning attention. All the Tengu and the pipe fox were sitting or standing on a rocky outcrop, Zashiki-Warishi's discarded kimono lying there as well.

"We bought you to our home mountain. The water from this spring has purifying powers." One of the other Tengu added.

"It has the power to wash out that miasma." A third Tengu continued.

"Use it for a while." Keith finished, his words punctuated by a whine from the pipe fox. He was probably saying something about resting as well.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Zashiki- Warishi apologized, crying even harder (if that was possible). "For not being about to do anything…your right eye has…" She couldn't continue, her tears thickening her voice. Watanuki gently reached up her right hand and brushed away some of those tears, making sure not to get any blood on the sprite's cheek.

"You don't have to be sorry." The raven whispered. "I'm the one…who's sorry." And then she fell back asleep again, carefully held by her friend as the rest of the miasma and dark energy of Jorogumo was purified. The pipe fox also took the opportunity to turn small again so he could cuddle up with his favorite in his favorite spot between her breasts, staying close until Watanuki was ready to travel home. An hour or so passed in quiet as the girl rested, and the Tengu and Zashiki-Warishi stayed by her side. When the raven awoke for a second time, her body felt much lighter and she could move again, having been freed from Jorogumo's presence. She and Zashiki-Warishi said their goodbyes as they recovered from the traumatizing day and Watanuki even said goodbye to the Tengu, who then vowed to kill her the next time that the seer made Zashiki-Warishi cry. Watanuki sneered at them and was about to leave, but then she realized she didn't know how she was going to get home.

"Oh, don't worry about that." Zashiki-Warishi replied when the girl voiced her concerns. "Yuko already told us that she was waiting for you. You'll just need to step into that pond." The sprite pointed to the pond that was surrounded by daffodils, the same pond that Watanuki had popped out of last time that she'd visited this mountain.

"Oh, great." The seer sighed. "I'm going to come out of that vase again, aren't I?" That had not been a pleasant experience

"Maybe." Zashiki-Warishi smiled. Watanuki just had to smile back and then stepped into the pond, waving goodbye to her friends. She fell through the pond quite unexpectedly, her entire body disappearing into the water as the pond's bottom vanished from under her feet. She lost her glasses somewhere along the way, but the pipe fox swam out of her uniform jacket and snagged them for her before they disappeared in the path between places. Watanuki hit the bottom of the path and started swimming upwards, just as she had last time, surfacing quickly to take a deep breath and wipe the water off her face. The warm water. That was surprising.

The seer brushed her messy, wet hair out of her face and took a look around, finding herself in Yuko's bathroom, the bath filled with hot water that felt nice after sitting in the cool pond waters for an extended period of time. "This is the bath at Yuko's shop," she said, announcing her presence to the witch who was just outside the doors. Yuko slid open the bathroom door and leaned against the frame, Mokona sitting on her shoulder.

"Well, welcome back." Yuko greeted her little servant.

"Yeah, welcome back!" Mokona waved.

"The water in the bath is mixed with the well water so it's connected to Zashiki-Warishi's mountain." Yuko explained, seeing the confused look on Watanuki's face. _Yuko did this for me? She could've let my ass surface in cold well water, but instead she took time to fill the bath. And she granted my wish…and I tried to hurt her by sacrificing myself…_

"Um I…" The girl started.

"You take your time and warm up in there." Yuko said with a smile, understanding what the girl was about to say. She turned to leave but Mokona had to put its two cents in as well.

"I got the first aid kit all ready for ya!" The pork bun piped off. Yuko slid the door shut behind her, letting the girl have her privacy. And that moment was when the pipe fox showed up, leaping out of the water like a little sea monster, the girl's glasses held in his little mouth.

The girl took Yuko's advice and got out of the tub, stripping off her wet uniform and dropping the clothes on the ground. The pipe fox found a nice little stool to set her glasses and then jumped back into the tub, swimming around happily. Watanuki sat down on a washing stool and got to work brushing out her hair and washing her body, trying to be careful not to get soap in the cuts on the right hand. She managed for the most part, rinsing off all the blood from her arm and then stepped back in the tub, relaxing into its warmth. Or she would've relaxed if the pipe fox hadn't been all up in her business. The little rascal was swimming around her body, diving underneath her knees and back and tickling her all over the place, probably trying to make sure that she was alright, and Watanuki laughed as she was tickled all over before smacking her head on the wall when he hit a particularly ticklish spot on her lower back. That's when she decided it was time to get out. Watanuki dried herself off and shrugged on a light blue yukata that Yuko had set out for her, putting her glasses back on, and then dried off the pipe fox before he slithered all over the floor and made a mess. Watanuki let the furry creature scamper up her arm as she walked around the shop looking for Yuko. The girl found the witch sitting on the porch in her favorite spot, looking up at the crescent moon. She'd taken her hair out and changed into a deep blue kimono with smoke patterns on it and patted the spot next to her as the girl entered the room. Mokona was there as well with the first aid kit and got to work bandaging up the seer's arm once she'd sat down. And to top it all off Maru and Moro had a cushion laid out for the pipe fox and the little spirit leapt at the chance to take a nap and fell asleep instantly as soon as he curled up.

"The pipe fox is sleeping." Maru whispered, holding her half of the blanket while they both covered the fox with it.

"He fell asleep." Moro whispered back. The two of them hummed softly as they kept the pipe fox company and Yuko slid the door shut quietly before returning to her spot on the porch. She'd even had the decency to get her own drinks this time and her glass of brandy clinked softly as she sat down once again, setting down a mug of hot tea next to Watanuki as well.

"It seems that even the mighty pipe fox is worn out." She mused, swinging her legs off of the porch. Watanuki's arm was returned to her as Mokona finished up, the bandages covering the cuts on her hand and the ones on her arm that she created when breaking free of the webs.

"He tried his hardest," The raven replied, holding her cup tenderly with both hands, taking a drink.

"Mokona will do it! And the bandages too! Put it away over here!" The pork bun sang to itself as it cleaned up the kit and then toddled off to put it away. Yuko sipped at her drink for a moment, waiting for something it seemed.

"My right eye was eaten." Watanuki said at last, finally admitting out loud what had happened (even though Yuko probably already knew). "It was kind of weird…feeling my eye enter her body."

"It will never return to you again." Yuko commented, her face serious. "It had been dissolved and disappeared into Jorogumo already."

"I know." Watanuki sighed. "I can feel the loss."

"That okay?" Yuko set her glass down.

"It's not okay," The girl started, "My right eye is gone…but there is something I have learned from it. Something important." The girl blinked, knowing that the right lens of her glasses would forever be useless the way she was. Yuko held out her left hand, closed in a light fist, her right hand pulling her kimono sleeve out of the way. Watanuki looked at her and watched as the woman opened her fingers, revealing a small orb of bronze. It floated in the air just as her eye had done in Jorogumo's hands, having its own light as well. But this orb was different in that it was half dark and half light, like the Yin Yang symbol. Watanuki knew what it was. It was…

"That's…" She whispered, not daring to believe what had been offered to her.

"Half of Doumeki's right eye." Yuko answered. Watanuki squeezed her eyes shut, completely floored by Doumeki's actions. She couldn't believe that he had done this…for her! After all she had done to hurt him, he still offered her what he had. It was selfless and stupid. It almost moved her to tears. _That jerkass. _"I'm the one who took it out. I took compensation as well, of course. He told me that he wanted me to give it to you if your right eye didn't come back. What will you do?" Watanuki opened her eyes, each of them filled with tears and already knew her choice. She reached out with her good hand and gently took Doumeki's gift. "Swallow it." Yuko instructed.

Watanuki stared at the wonderful thing in her hand for just a moment, gazing at the tiny light that looked like the sun, the tears running down her cheeks freely now. She opened her mouth and let Doumeki's eye pass by her lips, swallowing it. She felt it enter her body, and closed her eyes, feeling the warmth that little sun gave off before opening her eyes again. She could see, with both eyes now. Not very well, but she could see again. And when she'd look at herself, she'd find that her right eye was now a light bronze color, just like Doumeki's eyes.

The toll of the day, emotionally and physically, seemed to fall back on the girl and she gratefully collapsed under the weight of it, the gift the final thing she needed to set her heart at ease. Watanuki fell onto her right side, her eyes sliding shut heavily, her head landing softly on Yuko's lap. Her whole body went limp as the girl succumbed to exhaustion for a second time, and Yuko just let her be.

"Did she fall asleep?" Mokona asked softly, toddling back to the porch.

"She must've been tired." Yuko replied, taking the girl's glasses off carefully and handing them to her companion. Mokona would make sure they were put away properly.

"Watanuki tried her best too, didn't she?" The fur ball asked. Yuko nodded and gently placed her hand on the raven's head, stroking her hair like the girl's mother must have at some point in Watanuki's short life.

"You don't belong to only yourself, you know?" The woman whispered, knowing that some part of Watanuki was listening to her. "There isn't anything in this world that belongs to just you. Everyone has connections to someone else, and shares something with them through those bonds. That is why you can never be free. That is also why it is amusing…and sad…and very precious." Yuko smiled, closing her eyes and enjoying the cool evening, with her own personal lap warmer. She stayed on the porch for quite a while, softly petting her Watanuki's head, grateful that the girl had come to understand the lesson that she needed to learn. Maybe now, she could rely on others a little more and take better care of her own well being. That was the least she could wish for, at least.

The next morning, Watanuki was up bright and early, showing up outside of Doumeki's temple as he was beginning to walk to school. Her arm and hand were covered in bandages, which were concerning enough because as far as he knew, she'd gotten them getting involved with something extremely dangerous, but that wasn't what he was staring at. Watanuki was looking at him with one blue eye and one bronze eye, which was even more surprising. Doumeki's heart leapt and plummeted at the same time, if that was even possible. He was relieved that she'd survived the ordeal of the spider as Yuko had informed him yester day, and she'd accepted his gift he'd left her should her own quest end in failure. But he was also grief stricken over the fact that she'd lost her own eye forever, despite his efforts to help her. Neither of them had won and it hurt to think that they'd gone through all that pain to end up like they had. But she'd taken his gift and that was all that truly mattered.

The pair of them stared at each other for a moment, emotionless expressions on their faces, until Watanuki held up the bundle that always held her homemade bento boxes. The wrapping cloth was bigger than it usually was, holding at least one more box than normal and it looked heavy from what Doumeki could tell.

"It's lunch." Watanuki huffed.

"What about it?" Doumeki asked, still expressionless.

"I, the great Watanuki, have made a fabulous meal!"

"What does that have to do with-" The archer started, wondering where the girl was going with this.

"Because you eat like a pig, it weighs a fucking ton! So you can carry it to school!" The seer growled, annoyed by his lack of understanding right from the get-go. Doumeki looked at the bentos and finally got her point. "It's unfair if I'm the one who has to make lunch _and_ carry it. So you should-"

Before the girl could rant some more, He leaned in, his empty hand coming up to pinch her glasses and pull them down to the tip of her nose. Startled, Watanuki closed her eyes, not wanting to get her good eye poked out if he jabbed her with the frame of her glasses. But he didn't and in the next moment she felt a soft warmth covering her right eye. Doumeki pressed his lips into her skin, delicately kissing the eye they sort of shared now. His sight was now part of hers, as tragic as the circumstances were, and he felt great pride that she'd swallowed hers to accept his help. Watanuki gasped as he continued to kiss her, all their arguments and fights over the last few days disappearing as his lips traveled to her other eyelid and left a kiss there too. Then Doumeki was leaning down further, taking her lips and pressing a little harder, deepening his embrace by pulling her into his chest. Watanuki's arms came up and hugged his broad back, still carrying her school bag and their lunches, and tightened them around his body. They shared that kiss for a few moments more, silently forgiving each other for the hurt they'd caused.

As he pulled away, Doumeki took the bento boxes out of her hand, leaving the girl with just her bag, carrying the new weight with ease, secretly pleased that she was relying on him more, even if it was just for the small things. Watanuki fixed her glasses that the archer had neglected to replace and took a moment to compose herself.

"Half for each of us right?" Doumeki asked and answered at the same time. He started walking down the street, knowing that Watanuki would catch up with him before he got too far. They were going to walk to school together, he wasn't going to miss that. Watanuki was stunned for a moment, Doumeki's blunt nature making her momentarily speechless, but then she recovered and started to nit-pick like she normally did.

"Oi!" She shouted, using her most hated expression. "You forgot to thank me, you jerkass!" The girl stomped and flailed around, throwing a mini-tantrum.

"I haven't eaten it yet." Doumeki shot back over the sound of her saying "Oi!" repeatedly.

"Fine! Once you do you'll have to say this: 'Thank you so much, Watanuki! I'll never defy you again!' And bow on your knees while you do it!" The girl got all dramatic, acting like a complete lunatic as she mimicked the exact words and actions she wanted Doumeki to do, placing her hands together and bowing over and over again. Doumeki ignored her, mentally rolling his eyes.

"You're the only one I want on her knees." He mumbled to himself.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Watanuki snarled, her face heating up.

"Nothing at all. What are you talking about?" He countered, acting innocent. Watanuki fumed, knowing that she was banging her head on a brick wall when it came to Doumeki. But despite his rudeness, she still had a question to ask him.

"Hey, Doumeki." The seer started.

"Hm?" He replied, looking behind him. Watanuki dropped her head a little, her furious blush lightening into a cute one.

"Does it…look weird?"

"What looks weird?" He asked back.

"My eye, you moron." The raven grumbled, rolling said eye with its pair.

"Why would it look weird?" The archer held out his arm to stop the girl and take another look at her eye.

Suddenly halted and caught in his deep, intense stare as her boyfriend stepped in front of her, Watanuki blushed, certain that he was going to tell her that it did look odd. She'd had a good, long look at her face in the mirror that morning and she'd come to the conclusion that her blue eye looked horrible next to the golden bronze color that Doumeki's eye had given her. It had definitely been a shock to see that her eye had changed colors, but his eyes were amazing, unique – having a molten caramel shade that was incredibly easy to fall into, as she'd done many times when he caught her gaze. Of course, she'd never willingly let him know that she did that; it was embarrassing and would totally inflate his ego, but Doumeki's eyes were mesmerizing nonetheless. She thought her own blue eyes were lacking in that alluring quality that his had, but they were still pleasing to look at, at least. She just hoped that the two colors next to each other didn't make her look funnier than she already did. Doumeki was still staring at her, studying her face much more closely than he had that first time.

"No, it doesn't." He concluded. "It's lovely."

"Really?" Watanuki was a little startled, _lovely _was not a word Doumeki used.

"Yeah. But I'm mostly just saying that because it's my eye." Doumeki continued, devolving into his stone-faced teasing. "It'd be insulting myself if I said it looked weird."

"You ass!" Watanuki's eyes narrowed and she was about to smack him for being so rude, but then Doumeki spoke up again.

"But, I'm going to miss your blue eye. It was beautiful." Those words halted the girl again, and she blushed a little deeper. "They were deep but bright at the same time, like the ocean that night we were at the sea." And that's all Doumeki had to say about it, turning on his heel and continuing the walk to school. Watanuki ran to catch up to him a few moments later when she'd collected herself, wiping a few grateful tears off of her cheeks, and for once, they had a peaceful stroll together, all of their previous troubles with the spider's grudge swept away by the pleasant morning.

They'd fixed everything…both of them, together.

To be continued...

Note 1: Yatagarsu is commonly known as a three-legged crow and can be found in various Asian cultures. In Japan, the yatagarusu is a great bird that is evidence of the will of Heaven or divine intervention in human affairs and is a mark of rebirth and rejuvenation and guidance. In XxxHolic, I'd attribute the deity Yatagarsu as Jorogumo's sign of rejuvenation, since Watanuki's eye will increase/replenish her own power. A fuuri is a yokai that is about the size of an otter, looks like and is the size of a monkey, with red eyes and has a blackish, leopard-like pattern on its blue fur. It is said to feed on spiders, so that's possibly why Jorogumo respects and has such a creature as a deity, out of fear as a punisher, maybe.

Note 2: Jorogumo (meaning entangling bride or whore spider) is a type of yokai that can change its appearance to that of a seductive woman. When a spider reaches 400 years of age, it gains magical powers and can transform into a beautiful woman to seduce and eat men. In another version, the spider can turn into a woman with a baby, which would be the spider's eggsack. Another spider demon similar to Jorogumo is the Tsuchigumo, which can either be the male version of the Jorogumo, or just a giant, man eating spider.

Note 3: The Tachikoma toy that Maru has is based off a spider-like robot/artificial intelligence in _Ghost in the Shell_, a manga and anime written by Masamune Shirow. Awesomely enough, The Ghost in the Shell Realize Project has been developing a half size Tachikoma for use in customer service and the robots will greet customers and handle products and purchases. The robots will be controlled by customers' smartphones through and app.

A/N: And that's all for now folks! I will be back in a year and a half to continue writing, but until then, thank you so much for your support and I would love it if you'd keep reading my stories until I return to ! Thanks again and see you around! :3


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